How Horrific Will It Be For The Non-Prepper?

This article has been made available by regular SHTFplan contributor Be Informed.

Editor’s Note: You have no doubt had your own set of issues dealing with friends and family members that simply don’t see the writing on the wall. The following article may serve to assist you in convincing those who simply don’t know, don’t want to know, don’t care, or have never even thought to contemplate. Some of the scenarios outlined below may be frightening, as they should be, because when it hits the fan millions of people will be thrown into desperation with no hope of a solution. Be Informed provides a variety of point-by-point details that may (and hopefully will) convince the non-prepared individual to at least insulate themselves with the basic necessities. The consequences for not doing so, as you’ll see, are severe and often deadly.

I have become personally so disenchanted with the way people fail to prep. People still don’t understand how important it is to put away. I have gotten into arguments over this and had cretins call me a fool because I put away food, water, and supplies. I thought about this and the frustration that other preppers have with this laid back idiotic attitude that there is no need for preparation. There are good people that just can’t/won’t start preparing. They have the money to do so, but just don’t want to. Many have only seen what happens to non-preppers on TV, but it still doesn’t make an impact.

In this article I detail some hard core realities to show just how awful it will be for those that don’t prep. Every one of these scenarios is something that has occurred to the non-prepper throughout history. While strong images come to mind, the purpose is to jar some people out of their inaction and into action before it is too late.

Preppers are good people and care much about those around them, and unless something does jar those around them that choose not to prep, their own survival chances could be reduced. For every bit of food, water, ammunition, or supplies you sacrifice to the non-prepper, the fewer irreplaceable supplies are left for you and your family in a crisis situation. It is hoped that the following can help certain people put into TRUE perspective just how horrific it will be for those that don’t prepare.

Here are the awful consequences for those refusing to prep.

As the world continues to decay at multiple facets, the common person has and continues to be lulled into a sense that everything is improving and will continue to for the distant future. After all, to them unemployment has peaked out and will drop until everyone that wants to work will easily be able to find good paying work, North Korea is no threat because all their long range “bottle rockets” fizz out, sanctions will eventually make Iran give up their nuclear program, oil prices will start going down after June or so, Europe will bail out Greece and Spain and everyone else, and U.S. debt will eventually come under control.

After 2012 everyone that has prepared themselves will go back to more “sensible” lives. “Good times are coming”, baseball season is here, let’s get back to watching some more crackerjack news.

It is amazing how people become good conversationalists with most others discussing all the gossip related news, while becoming mentally tranquilized into a totally deceptive state of denial of truly dangerous issues of the times. It’s the blind leading the blind… right off the cliff.

Rather than dealing with harsh reality, people surround themsleves with easy to digest material that can be talked about without directly influencing anyone’s lives. Meaningless chatter. Even for those unwilling to even think to prepare for a societal catastrophic event, there is also no desire to even face the extreme possibility of a sudden loss of one’s employment. A personal SHTF.

Look at some of the terrible personal pain experienced in America right now – and it hasn’t even hit the fan on a grand scale. Those people who have lived it up on credit, who failed to put much of anything away for a rainy day, who’ve lost their job, and who eventually lost their unemployment benefits are experiencing the first level of collapse. This is happening to millions of people in our own country, all around us, as we speak.

These Americans, who once enjoyed the luxuries that modern living had to offer, are now at their wits end, with very little hope for a return to their previous lives. They are no longer able to pay most or any of their bills. Many have to humiliatingly turn to others for help to pay for food, or worse, to obtain old, unhealthy and poor tasting food from locally funded food banks. Their credit cards are totally worthless. Many have been evicted from their homes and have uprooted their families to live either on the street, in tent cities, with relatives, or have been forced to live at homeless shelters, They’ve have had their vehicles repossessed, or simply can’t afford the gasoline anymore. Their living conditions often make it difficult, if not impossible, to look presentable for job interviews. For many, the life of stability they knew just a short while ago is gone, replaced with fear and a constant stress to the point of nervous breakdown.

A personal economic meltdown is confined to the individual or family, or at worst a few families. The human civilization remains intact and so do society’s safety nets.

With food assistance, rental assistance, homesless shelters, and family to turn to, even the most destitute are almost always able to find some sort of help – however menial.

It is no wonder with these known assistance programs, then, that people have forgotten or never thought to consider what happens IF and WHEN human civilization goes through a strong enough SHTF event. If that happens on a mass scale what happens to everyone that needs help that has not prepared ahead of time? What happens when governments are in such total disarray or destroyed altogether that they can’t help even if they wanted to?

The media and others have portrayed the good people that sacrifice much if not all “luxuries” of life to prepare themselves and their family and friends for extreme times, as chicken littles. Those who have made the choice to store up emergency food, water, and other necessities to avoid extreme life threatening risks, including suffering horribly during and after a widespread SHTF event, are laughed at and ridiculed often for “wasting” their lives on delusional paranoia.

But who is delusional? Those who see the signs around them and understand how vulnerable the system is, or those who believe that things never change, that politicians have their best interests at heart, and that if the worst happens the government will be there to provide everything they may need?

How many have considered the dire consequences of their failure to prepare in the event that the infrastructure and everything a country’s people depend on totally collapses?

The misery from long term unemployment and lack of money is like a walk in the park compared to the severe anguish and dangerous conditions that await those who have failed to prepare for the aftermath of a large scale cataclysm. The “minor” problems of unemployment that seem extremely major and painful to most today should serve as a wake up call to what life will be like when something much, much worse happens – when those proverbial safety nets are no longer there to catch us.

Many preppers have become deeply frustrated at those around them, especially those that truly mean something to them, because they simply refuse to put away anything at all for emergencies. The prepper is usually a person that cares a lot and it is often difficult for them to take a tough stance towards the people that they care about. However, unless someone changes the habits of those people that fail to get ready, decisions will need to be made, and they won’t be easy.

The choice of what the prepared prepper should do will boil down to either either adding these people to their own circle or survival group and reduce the group’s safety, supplies and self sufficiency, OR, they will have to let the non-prepper fend for themselves. This is a very personal choice, and each of us will need to decide based on our own morals, ethics and personal relationships.

As a last ditch effort, discussing the following scenarios with the non-prepper may help them understand what life will be like without what has sustained them so comfortably for so long.

This is the hard reality the non prepper needs to understand:

Without power the water company cannot get water to their faucets. Without water dehydration occurs within 24 hours. Dehydration causes much suffering before death.

Toilets in homes, unless they have an incineration toilet that still need power to work, don’t flush without water. Where will they go to the bathroom and then where will they dispose of human waste?

There will be no clean water available anywhere, especially in major cities, and they cannot live more than about three days without it.

Drinking dirty and polluted water will make them incredibly sick and accelerate the dehydration process.

Polluted water must be purified and that means having a good filter, bleach or other disinfectant, or fuel and something to boil water with.

Understand just how fragile the power and the infrastructure is that pumps water to the public. A breakdown in our power infrastructure or a cyber attack against utility systems will render them useless.

A single event can rapidly lead to a cascade of other events that would certainly collapse almost, if not, everything. This is why major snow storms, hurricanes or solar events in the past have affected millions of people in an entire region all at once.

A single, seemingly unimportant event may become quite terrible as its repercussions spread; this can include a far and away disaster.

Understand that the economies of the world are so interwoven that when one major economy falls it affects everyone.

Not having any food in the house means that if the stores are emptied suddenly in a bad enough situation that there will be no food available for a long period of time afterward. Recent history during disasters around the world has shown that stores can literally be emptied in minutes.

Think about how totally horrible the feeling of being very hungry is and what circumstances would cause one to be desperate enough to eat anything.

ALL stores can be closed instantly under martial law.

Understand that you may not be able to purchase anything after it starts, especially with any credit cards.

Understand the complexity of food and water distribution; breaks in these chains can stop anything from getting to the people.

What life will be like if no toilet paper is stored?

Understand that without light sources, the night will be pitch black, often with zero visibility.

There will be no communications, other than probably martial law type of instructions over the radio, that is if they have batteries for the radio.

Other than ham and shortwave radio, any information that is available will be sent out by the government as filtered propaganda that “they” want everyone to hear.

Without power consider what it will be like to not have any heat to stay warm, or air conditioned air to stay cooler – with no way of alleviating the situation.

Travelling will likely be by foot or bicycle, as their will be no fuel and roadways may be blocked.

Realize that ANY travel outside of the home or neighborhood will be extremely dangerous as ANYONE who moves becomes a target

Non preppers will be pushed way beyond their limit because of lack of supplies.

The non prepper must realize their government does not really care about them individually, that they are a mere number and help will likely not come from them.

They have to figure out somewhere to get food. This can mean wild plants which they must know how to identify as safe, or risk poisoning themselves.

They have to understand that when we refer to “having no food” it doesn’t mean not having the food they are used to enjoying, it means no food to eat at all.

They have to understand that if they are fortunate enough to have any running water, they will probably have to bathe in cold water for lack of stored fuel to heat water.

They have to realize that the very strange and totally unexpected is going to be all around them, made that much worse because of lack of any reliable self defense stores or skills.

They might have to remain on the run constantly because of looking for water and food.

They must understand that bad will be magnified magnitudes to living misery because of lack of food, water, and other necessary items that they took for granted for so long.

Okay, now comes the “truly ugly and unthinkable” life that most, if not all, people that have failed and refused to prepare themselves will deal with. Clear vivid visualization is key here for anyone that ho hums the idea of prepping.

What horrors they will likely face after a cave-in of their nation’s economy, war, geophysical upheaval, or whatever crisis is bad enough to disturb or stop their nation from working and functioning? There are plenty of very potential SHTF events that are simply awaiting a catalyst to trigger them.

The Non-Prepper (NP) has to realize right off the bat that 911 and other emergency calls in will be met with silence or some recording telling the caller not to panic.

The (NP) that has no reliable self defense that can stop an attacker, will not get help from public services, and will become a victim of rape, assault, torture, or murder.

The (NP) that has no reliable self defense and will not only be at the mercy of criminal elements, but also have to contend with many desperate animals, some with rabies.

The (NP) that has no food will either have to find food or be ready to beg for food or worse, like sacrificing their bodies or other horrible acts or things to get a bite of food.

The (NP) will have to go through the worst, most rancid conditions of garbage to just maybe find what they should have stored up.

The (NP) will go through panic and near if not total psychosis looking for any water source right before their bodies begin shutting down during advanced stages of dehydration.

The (NP) will go through unbearable trauma when their children and other people around them are crying, screaming, and suffering with intense hunger pains in their stomachs.

The (NP) will have to deal with the awful stench of rotting wastes from many sources because they have not taken the effort to even store up waste disposal plastic bags.

The (NP) will have disease and pathogens everywhere, not only because they have no trash disposal means, but because they haven’t prepared how to deal with trash and waste.

The (NP) will have to live in very primitive conditions after things around them deteriorate rapidly, because they have neglected putting away anything to make life more bearable.

The (NP) and those around them will likely develop all sorts of infective skin rashes from the lack of insight of storing up toilet paper. Imagine the smell for a moment.

The (NP) will have to handle biting insects and other vermin that will collect amoungst the filth that will pile up. No pest control stored up along with no other supplies.

The (NP) will have no way of treating sickness certain to follow a SHTF event, no first aid and likely no training or knowledge about how to treat the ill on top of this.

The (NP) will have sick and dying people around them because of not being able to treat minor injuries. Didn’t even stock up on disinfectives. Unsanitary conditions lead to infection.

The (NP) and others around them will experience much grief as they watch helplessly as their family members literally die of starvation right in front of their eyes.

The (NP) won’t believe how desperate hunger drives them and those that mean everything to them to “trying” to eat food that taste so bad it gags them and comes back up.

The (NP) will likely have family and friends around them that have also not prepared committing suicide because they can’t take it any longer.

The (NP) will witness some of those people around them lose any sense of civilized humanity in them and behave like wild animals after some time from lack of necessities.

The (NP) and family members, maybe friends also, will at some point end up barbecuing or eating raw the family dog, cat, bird, any pet dear to everyone for food.

The (NP) will likely get into physical fights with other family members over any scrap of food available as rational thoughts are lost to wanton hunger.

The (NP) as many other (NP’s) will eventually go out of any safety of their home looking for food and or water, become disorientated and lost, and die a hard death somewhere.

The (NP) that is “lucky” enough to find some government help will likely have to almost sell their soul, probably all their freedom, to get tiny rations – just enough to keep them alive.

The (NP) will see widespread violence and barbarism that will shock them to the core and will wish that they had purchased some form of firearm and stocked up on ammunition.

The (NP) better get used to attempting to explain the children and other adults why they wasted all that money on junk, and didn’t buy any emergency food and other supplies.

The (NP), no matter how positive they are will drop quickly into depression and lose willpower as having nothing to hold on to does this, along with lack of any nutrition.

The (NP) will feel the worst guilt imaginable as they hear their family moaning in anguish from lack of anything to eat, knowing they could have done something to prepare.

The (NP) will most likely not see the rebuilding and recovery after A SHTF event. They will, like almost all NP’s, be statistics. Some will die hours or a day before help arrives.

The (NP) from lack of food, drinking bad water, no light at night, the horrid smells, no good self defense, the overall horror, will often be paralyzed with fear and despair, blank stare.

The (NP) is totally helpless after SHTF, will have to rely totally on charity of those prepared to live. They will take all sorts of desperate measures likely to get them shot. They’ll attempt to eat hazardous foods like an animal trapped in a house will do, and get sick and suffer much before dying. The (NP) will likely die (ugly and hard) as they lived, unprepared for anything.

If we were to use one single word to describe the torments that someone who “chooses” not to prepare will go through after a true you know what hits the fan it would be “PREVENTABLE”.

Almost every single person, even a very poor person, has the capacity to put away emergency food and supplies. Even homeless people have stashes of something just in case things become so bad that the normal hand outs and thrown-away items dry up. Many people with good sources of income don’t even have an extra can of food or any water put away at all. This is stupidity beyond words.

Every day lightweight disasters happen in all parts of the world that disturb services enough that people are confined to their homes for a certain amount of time. While recovery is short, people are still uncomfortable during these times. Look what happens after a power outage at night and you will be mystified at how many homes are completely dark for hours. People have not even bought an extra couple of candles or any battery operated light sources. Even in well-to-do neighborhoods you may hear only a lone generator going after a blackout. This lack of preparedness is truly frightening and plays itself out again, again, and again every time services are disrupted for minor to major reasons. It’s as if there is something wrong with storing extra food, water, and supplies.

Even after “lessons” played out to what happens to those non-prepared, most people still feel that it just cannot happen to them, or won’t ever happen to them again. It should be proof enough to people what happens to those unprepared after disasters simply by looking at those that have gone through it firsthand. The difference, though, comes in that these disasters have had recovery periods and help from others. Even Haiti received some help and conditions remain putrid over there.

After a TRUE SHTF, it is presumable that government help and others coming to the aid of those in need WON’T happen for long periods of time. During that time those that have chosen to not put food, water, and necessities away are going to be in life threatening positions. Most people just don’t get that when the supermarket shelves are empty they will stay that way for an extended period. When the utilities go down, especially water, it may be weeks, months, or longer before they come back, if ever. Without what someone needs to survive each day, it is not going to magically appear, and depending on the goodwill of others to feed them and sacrifice their own family’s survival chances is a terrible choice.

People MUST know what life will be like after SHTF in mega fashion if they refuse to prepare. This is NOT new. Terrible events have plunged people into the deepest levels of desperation and hopelessness, and they will happen again and again.

While the above consequences to the non-prepper are extremely abysmal for anyone to read, the simple fact of the matter is they have already happened time and time again to those that have nothing put away. People have resorted to cannibalism and gone to levels of primitive savage behavior out of shear desperation and out of literally losing their minds to the physical depletion of food and water that keeps the physical body operating. Sometimes showing the extreme severity and results of a person’s lack of action, such as failure of the simple act of putting away extra food, water, and supplies, can be the kick in the complacency that they need.

It’s really easy to put away food and supplies. All one has to do is add a little bit of extra food to the grocery cart for long-term storage. Over time this adds up to a well stocked pantry of supplies.

There is something that is in a can of food that everyone can eat and enjoy the taste of, so talk to family members about their nutritional preferences and start stocking up. Toilet paper and other supplies that really don’t have any expiration date can be put away and forgotten about ’til needed.

There MUST be common sense and intelligence to see what happens IF they don’t stock up for the future. There has to be the DESIRE to get started, and this is the real problem with so many.

Once started, however, prepping becomes a type of life saving routine or positive lifestyle habit. It is easy and can and will save one from misery. It may save their life and the lives of their family from ruin when SHTF, which is almost inevitably going to happen someday. Every month and year that goes by without a true SHTF event, makes it more likely that it will happen. Basic statistical chance shows this to be the case, but people continue the same pattern of behavior that has led them to the same devastation countless time before.

For those preppers that have people around them that refuse to prepare, you can at least have some degree of solace knowing that you tried to show the non-prepping person(s) what not having anything will mean to them and their families.

All we can do is try. Once we’ve given it our best shot, all we can do is let those who have been warned about the direness of the possibilities live their lives the way that want to. They will, unfortunately, live in a world of regret and suffering if the nation and the world falls apart around them.

To every action there is an opposite equal reaction. Preppers will see their efforts have been more than worth it. Objects that are motionless tend to remain motionless and non-preppers will find there are horrific consequences for their lack of effort and motion to put away “life insurance” preps for themselves and their families.

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well its gonna be nearly impossible unless they steal and try and take what it not theirs. guns will be gold. we all that are on here know and want to survive and ready to be taken to the next stage. im afraid the battle will be with chaos and wild fires brewing in the cities and people losing their lives with people trying to steal and kill each other for resources. im ready

For years- I have had gay friends who I am very close to.
( I have no jesus freakwit bible thumpers who live in their mummy’s basement!) Gore Vidal, (bless him)- called people like You ‘Christers’. Crawl back under your rock, Bible Boy.

I just came back from 9 days in Iceland and I can tell you that those people did it right. Granted, they don’t have the welfare or police state like we do but from an economic standpoint they recognized the problem, and put a stop to it.

It’s tough to compare them to the US just because of scale but the ideals should be something more countries take notice of.

Thank you so much for your article, I think you pretty much cover the waterfront. I have transmitted tour article to my 150 person mailing list, many who refuse yo prep.

But even your great foresight will not predict new horrors we will experience everyday. The hardest part fo me will be turning away friends, friends who did not prep, even after my most persuasive efforts. My friends have wealth and can easily stock up on freeze dried quality foods, and the best defense systems available, but they don’t. I’m sure these friends will be at my door.
Sadly I have violated OpSec over and over in my altruism. I wantbtomhelp my friends see what coming. Like you I have taken the slings and arrows of their derision and become totally inured to it. Well almost totally. Because like you I see t coming. I it disturbs me to no end that my close friends have willfully exposed themselves to the worst.

I”m moving to the country where land, water, and game abounds and people are few. We have gone to diesel, and we store adequate reserves on site. We are top heavy with solar panels, and are prepared to keep our stash clean and cool. Our medical suplies are first rate being heavy “on wide spectrum” antobiotics. and dental and srgical tools and knowledge.Our security electronics -, long range motion detectors, razor wire, and four rotor helidrones with real time video to base are fully operable. My group has grown to a community of healthy 30-50 year old reproducing families. All the women and men can pull a trigger and have read thue most insightful book on the subject, ‘On Killing’, written by a us army col. Who has a doctorate in psych. This book is a must read for those who intend to actually intend using firearm to protect their families.
Those who come to my old home hto mooch or steal will find an empty larder. We will be gone.
hh
I probably could use antidepressants, but am sloshing through without. Thank you for a fine article hopefully it will jar some of my friends and their families over to the side of an honorable survival.h

Try not to get into anti-depressants, because if you do, the ever so helpfull government will take your guns away(no self defense or hunting.)About the article, I think the auther put a lot of work into it,I liked reading it (well I didnt LIKE reading it but I found it educational.)I do think you left out some important pieces of information(I did not read the other comments,so if I repeat somebody I am sorry.)When you talked about sanitation you didnt really talk much about all the disease and problems that will be occuring in unsanitary conditions,many people dont relize (becuase we take running water and instant hand sanitizer and the shower and the dishwasher and the washing machine for granted)but if you cant get to a sink or a shower you will get pretty nasty,think about it in a SHTF event you will likly be wearing shoes or boots all day (hot wet feet stuffed in a shoe for 17 hours will lead to athlets foot and blisters and toe fungle and foot oder.)also what happens if you cat wash your hair their are lice and ticks and fleas and bed bugs and other parasites and diseases out there MY POINT IS YOU REALLY WILL WANT TO STOCKPILE SANITATION SUPPLIES AND HYGIENE SUPPLIES. BEST OF LUCK TO YOU ALL PREPPERS AND NON PREPPERS.

michelle-you said a mouthful because if you gots “necessities”,then by all means you should protect them. I guess it comes down to how far and long the situation will last(apprx 6mths or more)and GOD BLESS ALL OF YOU GUYS HERE WHO ARE PREPPED. Me,myself,I tried to float it out to people and have been looked at as “over zealous”,but having gone thru a small SHTF,let me tell you-IT’S NOTHING NICE,and when people realize that they could’ve done something,minds will probably snap as they hear their children scream from hunger,or have to endure an “exchange of services” for food. There’s an old saying which I believe will echo thru-out:GOD BLESS THE CHILD THAT HAS HIS OWN.

You need to have a place to go that’s already stocked with supplies before you just bug out. There’s also a big difference between living in a town of 30,000 and living in Chicago. I’d prefer to live in the sticks but it’s impossible now. Even then you could still have groups of people checking every house on motorcycles or snowmobiles.

I wander if you will be able to get to your safe place.
You can imagine that there will be no gas, roads will be jammed with broken cars, arround them desperate people with their families in groups, ready to steal everything they can.
I think you are better to stay at your home and get neighbours organized together for the defence.
There is no such as an ideal place that people think about, unless you are in some hard to get location, but it means you will also have hard time to get there.
Remember, native people in that location will be also ready to defend their place and may not be willing to let you in there. This is my opinion. ZD

…and where do you think your reader should go? I live in a rural area, and I can tell you right now that the first thing residents around here will probably do is block the roads and man the barricades to keep any hordes out.

Barn Cat has a point: Unless you have somewhere to run *to*, and can get to it before anyone else does, you’re a refugee. You don’t want to be one unless you have no other choice.

So your going to be one of those people who is going to assume your “friendly neighbor” will do for you what you should have done for yourself? You are the type of person the prepper will watching for!

What a dunb idea. So you get fifty miles from home and the roads are blocked, gas is unavailable or criminals are setting up roadblocks and robbing and raping. Unless there is somewhere to go to with a good chance of getting there staying in place is the best option. The ideal is to live in a semi rural area where everyone knows everyone else. Good neighbors will be the key to surviving. You ain’t going to make it on your own Rambo.

JQP-man,you put it right cause due to economics,most do not have a “bug-out”spot,but the trick is really getting those around you to be on the same track cause if you’re 3 out of 10 whom are prepped;what are the 7 that’re without doing to do? Believe me,they’ll be looking very hard at you who do and friendship will take a skip over food,water,meds,etc. I only hope that common sense will prevail. Do you think TPTB might just,in order to avoid a total scene of chaos,set up food camps(not FEMA)?

John W, don’t you think part of bugging out is knowing when to get out? I think response time will be absolutely critical. We have talks in my house about it pretty frequently. I think an important article for someone to write should be when to bug out and when to bug in. My husband says for a pandemic we absolutely have to bug in. He also says for a nuclear attack we would have to bug in until the radiation passes. We go back and forth on these issues a lot. I would rather leave early for most things, feel embarrassed when the situation got resolved quickly and order is restored, than leave late and be stuck in traffic with scared, potentially murderous people looking for supplies. We also have bug out plans that include walking which I’m really praying we never ever need. We understand the likelyhood of most scenarios is small but we still feel the need to plan for them regardless, basically like insurance.

The people of Western Civilization have been in a state of demoralizing, and hard-corp conditioning since WW2. Many of those who do not prepare are probably not even any longer capable of doing so.

To face any other possibility other than the mundane that they accustomed to, is so alien to them as to be unreal. People have been conditioned to reject anything that is not “fun” or “entertaining”, and are like perpetual adolescents. The parasites have done quite a brainwashing on the average person.

All you can do is warn people. If they reject what you have to say, there is little you can do. Those who reject your advice now will most likely be very dangerous to you later, loved ones or not. Even those you intend to prepare for, who reject what you have to say.

Other people who chose not to prepare, but know that you do, will most likely be just as dangerous to you as any mortal enemy.

… the cities are full of that type of person. For years and years I have marveled at the people in metropoli who allowed themselves to become more and more animalistic by the day feeding in the gov’t trough. Now large swaths of these mega-cities are less civilized than jungles.

And I have always chuckled at the self-absorbed cosmopolitans sitting in cubicle filled rooms, sneering at “flyover” country, as they become fatter, weaker and more feminized, perpetually becoming less and less able to actually do anything.

In the case of widespread disaster, whether it be by way of financial collapse, EMP, pandemic, cyber attack, nuclear attack, WWIII, solar mega flare, meteor strike, onset of ice age, or any of the dozens of other possibilities, the mindless animals and helpless cosmopolitans who occupy the metropoli will be nearly wiped out. The irony is that the city-dwellers who will probably survive are the most useless of all, the gov’t officials and top finance bankers who have Obama’s support and thus places in the hidden, protected, fully stocked Federally built bunkers. These parasites and their families will be chauffeured in DHS MRAPs and protected by thousands of highly armed DHS guards.

Clint, etc: Agreed, hard working Preppers are not obligated to support non prepper slackers period. The writing is on the wall, and those that don’t prepare are the ones who plan on stealing from others and admit it. Keep low key but having a bartering network is important.

clint, it is amazing how you got any thumbs down. Your opinion is typical of us preppers. I knew something was wrong in the 80′s when a report showed that the average American was not saving as had been the norm for many years prior. This same report said that over 50% of the Japanese saved. We as a society have less than 10% trully having anything close to a savings account/plan. Then we run the risk of banks/investors squandering our savings. Like most preppers, I took the responsibility of saving off the grid.
As the article says, it can be frustrating talking to people but I won’t get discouraged. The lessons from the great depression haven’t been taught nor learned by many.
I prep for my immediate family and prep for those who’ll be in need. I, like many can only hope I’ll have enough for others when they come calling for help. I believe we can’t stop prepping, this is the constant mode for my wife and I.
Stay in His grace.

It occurred to me the other night that the constant racism present on some of these threads might be preventing useful lurkers from communities/groups where the shit already hit the fan from sharing valuable info with us.

Could we suspend the hate rants towards blacks/jews/random ETs for a change? We might get the opportunity to learn summat.

I know many appreciate the updates from Manos in Greece, but I’m sure he’s far from the only one who could add real value if given the chance to do so.

OK back to prepping – a random useful fact is that we all know we are done for after 3 days without water but after 12 days without adequate (inc protein) the human brain starts to go doollally ga-ga.

Your aim will be off, your mood will be erratic and you’ll make fundamentally stooopid errors of judgement. For children/teens/youths this time to reach la-la land will be considerably shorter.

Consider in your preps some really calorie dense portable nutrient sources for emergency nutrition in case you have to bug out/it’s not safe to open your hidden pantry for a few days.

Fruit leathers, kendall mint cake, biltong – that type of thing could all come in really handy to keep you sane enough for another day in order to reach a hidden cache or wait for dangerous nosey parkers (government or gangbangers) to pass you by.

Many modern American neighborhoods use lift stations for sewage. I have even seen $400K homes with these installed just to get the do-do to the public system (this dufus has already had his basement flooded with poopy water). If the generator can’t be refueled during an extended outage, poop will back up into homes. A plumber’s inflatable test plug and bicycle pump may be quite useful.

Lackon, etc: Those with no basements: there are sewer pipes outside the houses that the caps can be unscrewed so sewage won’t back up in the house. Locate these now folks, pull the grass out and clean around them, they are usually in the flower bed or along the side of house so you can get to them when the time comes.

In a really bad situation, there is totally equality. Everyone who has not prepped will he hungry. There was a passage from a book written many yrs ago re: an atomic disaster that applies. “The laws of hunger and survival could not be evaded, and honored no color line.”Re: calorie dense foods there are available survival bars that have 400 calories as well as a peanut butter bars that have 190 calories. They work well. I oughta know, I live off them in order to get thru my workday. I live on a tight budget.This article says it all as far as the consequences of not preparing, that is putting aside food, water, and basic commodity items, like toilet paper and over the counter drugs.

When shit gets real, race, creed, religion… those won’t matter. Getting fed, hydrated, and warm will be the big priorities, and they will be equally so for anyone, regardless of who or what you are.

I just spent today doing something I bet that few if any preppers have ever bothered with.

I foraged for food.

It required a license to do it (post-SHTF no license will be required, obviously), but 1 hour of foraging + 1 hour of preparation got me 2 pounds of seriously high-protein meat – fresh, surprisingly tasty, and we had an awesome dinner with enough left over to freeze. I found it 4 miles away – as easy walk. As a bonus, the guts and inedible parts became a nice pile of fertilizer; that’s currently buried in my experimental garden out back.

On the way there, I passed at least a half a dozen places where edible plants could be had for the taking.

I strongly suggest that, if you haven’t already, you start doing this. It doesn’t matter how much food you have stacked and stored. It doesn’t matter how green your thumb is. It makes zero meaning as to how good a hunter you are (or think you are.) Things can happen which can wipe out what you have stashed away or growing on your property. Any hunting post-SHTF will be fruitless (seriously, any non-prepper on Earth will think “hunting!” as their back-up plan.)

The one thing few folks, even preppers, fail to do? Forage. You’d be amazed at what you can find out there without using a weapon, or planting seeds, or opening a closet door.

I figure that when the time comes, most people will reach for their stores, and watch them dwindle fast. They’ll plant seeds like crazy, but then realize it’ll take months before they get any sufficiently useful from them. They’ll stomp the woods flat looking for deer/ducks/whatever, and realize that any success against that much competition will be equivalent to winning the lottery.

If you know how to forage, you have a very, very valuable weapon in the fight against hunger. Now post-SHTF some folks will start foraging out of desperation, but if you don’t have the skills, you’re going to die either from malnutrition or from poisoning.

Let that sink in for awhile… then get off your ass and learn to do something about it.

Food foraging is something that not only is my son really good at, but that he’s beginning to teach his pals. (Like most on the autistic spectrum he has an incredible visual memory.)

It’s amazing that a bunch of 6-8 year old lads can find a meal in a city park, but if it’s edible they’ll find it! Might taste a bit odd but it’s potentially a life saving skill and keeps the scallys out of mischief for a couple of hours on a Saturday. Free activity too, for those of us parents on constrained budgets.

Here in the Rockies, my wife and I are ramping up classes and seminars to teach various survival skills, with the principle focus being on knowing, identifying, harvesting and preparing native food and medicinal plants. We’re just getting started (on the teaching part), and word of mouth has been our advertising so far.

What people do not realize is the veritable bounty of food around them. Although in urban/suburban areas you have to watch for all the chemicals that get poured on them (to destroy those “weeds” or to make sure that precious grass looks good), we have evolved to eat much of what Mother Nature grows naturally, with local rainfall and temps. But even with that, people do not think about the fact that they have to prep with those, too, because many of those plants are not available or cannot be located easily in the winter.

Being able to eat off the land, though, is still no excuse for not prepping (as I’m sure you would agree). It is not an easy thing to find/raise/store those beans and lentils and rices. That requires a secure space and time and health enough to farm, and when the SHTF, no one should assume they will have that luxury in the short term.

Quick fact: The author talks about biting insects. Anyone ever heard of tansy? It grows in many places around here, and stinks, and you don’t want to eat it, but if you rub it on your skin, those insects won’t touch you.

Quick fact #2: Mullein, which also grows all over the place, is an excellent herb for handling respiratory distress, pleurisy, and can curtail incipient pneumonia. It can be smoked, or makes a wonderful tea. Big Pharma has synthesized this plant to produce “Mucinex”, which sells OTC at grocery stores for a buck a pill. Same stuff. Except I get mine free. ;0P

Thanks for the link to the database. That will be keeping me busy for a FEW hours. We have been prepping for a few years but our adult children just seem to blow it off. They know that if the SHTF they WILL NOT be able to just walk home to mom and dad because it’s a 2000 mile hike. Nevertheless, they rather spend their money on cell phones and stupid stuff. So, we send them freeze dried food from http://www.srmarketplace.com for their birthdays and Christmas, etc. It adds up if done consistently and at least we know that their young families will have some preps in place.

Finding food in the forest is not realistic and what unprepared people think they will do. The forest will be stripped clean of everything edible and many of those people will have guns.

A deep larder and a defensiable position is the only solution. The first 30-60 days will be a mad house until every food source is gone forest and what can be stolen eaisly and hunger weakens the unprepared people.

I don’t know about everyone else, but I will probably be seen as a ‘weakling’ who needs to be weeded out. It is one thing for the few dedicated self-sufficient and ‘prepared’ portion of the population to survive extremely hard times. It’s quite another for city-dwellers and suburbanites to run down a check list of items to be obtained, and then find a place where you can bug out to. It’s all between the ears. Would you really WANT to live in a failed society where Mad Max and the whole psychopathic bunch of semi-humans are eying you, and what you possess to be taken by whatever vicious means that it takes to get what you have? To what end is such a survival desirable? How, exactly will some kind of semi-humane society be re-built out of all these people who don’t trust anyone? I grew up dirt-poor, no plumbing, 5 of us crammed into a 1-bedroom house, an outhouse, grew our own food, and we were self-sufficient in many ways, although my Dad still had to have a paycheque to provide for things we couldn’t provide ourselves. Like a trip to the dentist when a toothache became unbearable, to buy coal when our firewood ran out in February, to buy a warm pair of boots when the old pair couldn’t be repaired anymore, or to get fresh food in the winter, or to keep a car on the road to get to a work. Lots of things ust won’t be available and it will be a lonely existence where you can’t trust a soul? Not for me, thanks. I’d take the cyanide, as awful as that seems. It took a thousand years of horrible poverty, wars, filthy living conditions and extremely short lives before Western Man emerged from Dark Ages to a Golden Renaissance which, in my opinion, is ending. To be replaced by God knows what. One thing I do now is that Mother Nature will find a way to restore the balance and either rid the planet of this genetic cul-de-sac named homo sapiens, or teach it by some very hard lessons on how to live in harmony with the natural rhythms of a healthy world. We have the capacity to either destroy ourselves or by some miracle honour each life as a gift, and produce compassionate minds like Einstein, Ghandi or Da Vinci. I don’t want a life holed up in a cold cave with my weapon always ready, distrusting each and every human being who passes by.

I dont know your circumstances. I do know that I have several children and family members that I feel responsible to protect. I see levels of failure? I agree that a level 10 total nuclear winter would be a terrible world to live in. But what about a level 5 economic failure? Roving gangs looking for my daughter. I feel a need to be around, armed. And if there are Level 3 natural disasters or level 7 EMP type disasters. There are a lot of potential disasters, not all of them involve 100% societal failure. I am not ready to kill my self because of a 2 week – 2 month power outage. I am not ready to give my belongings to a dictator or tyrant. I am not ready to abandon my family over some mid level disaster. So I prepare. I have a go bag at work. I have a go bag in my trunk. I have 3 go bags at the house. But I also have a house with food, medicine and supplies (yes, arms included). I have a storage shed with tool and supplies that do not require electricity. I have “hidden” supplies”. And 90% of this can be used in everyday life as well as a disaster of any level. Prepping has made my life better and more secure, even if there is never a SHTF situation.

Of course it is easier to be a slave than a free man. And it will be just as easy for you AFTER the SHTF as it is today. Even in a FEMA camp you will be no less free than you are today. And they have a lot of food for you so you will only have to look in that small area. And guess what. Once you are under lock and key you will no longer have to pay that 10 FRN fee. You will be able to work it off at 10 cents an hour for your labor.

“”””I prefer preparing for what’s coming, instead of blowing OPSEC and waggling my dick around in a courtroom over something that is quite inconsequential.”””

Exercising your freedom is inconsequential? What is coming, at least from the corp, must be stopped, but so long as “people” are willing to pay to be slaves because it is easier the situation will remain hopeless.

Don’t worry about your dick waggling in a courtroom. They will be entering from the other side, apparently with your consent and a willingness to pay for it.

I was in Rwanda during that mess.
We buged out of the city to a friends farm that was about 100 miles away. We started out driving but ended up walking more than 2/3rd of the way. We were happy as could be to arrive there. But 3 days after us others started showing up and a week after that there wasent an animal, fish, edible plant to be found. There were so many people foraging for food that we couldnt keep them away and they within another week destroyed the farm.
We had to bug out again deep into the forest. At first every night you could hear all the animals. But before long so many people arrived that the night was quiet. Not a sound. All the animals had been eaten by the people trying to survive.
Dont rely on foraging too much. Be prepared.

Rwanda also has near perfect weather. no winter, a population without weapons ,Except for the rebels, that is used to doing without power,or running water and did not have millions of people that were on medication for everything. They still managed to kill a significant % of the population in weeks.

Search real hard and a lot of those “life saving” prescriptions have a natural or cheap counterpart. This is just a for instance here okay? For instance: Baking soda can be all you need to wipe out cancer. Really. Search for yourself. Cancer CAN NOT live in an alkaline environment. NONE OF IT. A doctor in Kansas lost his license for injecting baking soda water into tumors and killing cancer. Big pharma didn’t like that at all. 1/2 tsp a day in water can keep the body alkaline by simply drinking it. Now I’m not a doctor. Baking soda is salt so if you have high blood pressure you make up your own mind about it. I am simply someone who used to be on a butt load of medicine but saw I had to figure out how to get off of them because I saw the writing on the wall also. Some of us have handicaps also. We can’t be walking around in the woods for any reason. My neighbor who is a 6 time vet is in a wheelchair. When everyone goes crazy they will be many in groups trying to get into your house. Getting your groups and neighbors together ahead of time is wise. The government will try to confiscate what you have first so don’t keep all of your stash in your house where it can be found. The gangs will break in and kill you just to SEE if you have food. Gather your group now. Look up hydroponics and aquaponics. This is a tried and true source of protein and veggies you can set up in your garage. It is better than nothing if you are old, sick, handicapped, or allergic to every plant in the woods. It has been used in poor countries with success. Argentina has had a collapse already.http://www.silverbearcafe.com/private/10.08/tshtf1.html
This link takes you to a blog of someone who lived through it, what happened to the cities, how the crime progressed, what he wished he had done differently before the collapse, what happened to those out in the country, the power outages, people scavenging for food, etc. For those who decide not to go read it, just know that going it alone will be impossible. Our collapse will be worse. Imagine all of those NP’s without their meds, illegal drugs, cigarettes, or alcohol and you will see a fraction of the chaos. How can the government support inmates in a collapse? They won’t. You MAY end up in a FEMA camp with them. Worse yet, you end up in FEMA, inmates get set free. Our government has purposely did this folks. That is a story all by itself. I wish it was possible to simply find others that are like minded in my area through sites like this just to band together for protection but it is impossible due to false and misleading people. If you have had surgery and had something removed such as a thyroid, finding a replacement for your med may prove impossible. If you have a non functioning part it may be fixable. CoQ10 has gave many people their heart and kidney function back. Clinically proven. Look it up yourself.
I hope my two cents helped. Do not take my word for anything. Just go research. This will not be a white vs black thing here folks although those groups will jump on the chaos bandwagon. It is a people vs. the government scenario but the TV bots who don’t prepare won’t understand that at all. Good luck everyone.

A canines belly has enzymes for that. A humans belly does not. A beginner microbiology course will educate you my friend on why you have so many thumbs down. It is not because what you said is disgusting. It is because your post may lead other less educated people to do as you do and end up dead. Fish is about the only “American” meat you can do that and get away with it but even the fish may have a worm under its skin. Your intestines are likely already infested with worms. Just because you don’t feel them in there doesn’t mean you don’t have them. Those cows and pigs you buy at the store are so loaded with antibiotics that the bugs they had, they still have, and they are alive and well inside of you just waiting for your immune system to weaken just a tad bit so they can reproduce at lightening speed and destroy you. These bugs are antibiotic resistant so don’t be surprised when you end up in the hospital and the doctor gives you a lot of stuff then tells you there is nothing they can do but wait and hope then wheels you into a room that says “quarantine” on it to let you die. This scenario is exceptionally possible friend. Look up MRSA please. The amount of thumbs up shows others are eating red meat thinking apparently it is fine since they have not gotten sick…yet. You may have expected to get sick instantly when you first ate raw meat but since you didn’t you are guaranteed to come down with it so bad when you do, it may be too late to repair what you have done to yourself. I highly recommend anyone reading this abstain from eating red meat. Think about it. Even when the land was pure the Natives didn’t even do such a thing! Ask an Indian if their ancestors ate the buffalo raw. You, friend, don’t have to even worry about SHTF. You may not live to go through it.

@Paranoid
The reason we had to give up driving was all the bodies in the streets. It was impossible to drive. Yes, they killed near 1,000,000 people in a few weeks with little more than clubs and knives.
It was a situation that was impossible to prep for. You had to be able to live with what you could carry and be able to hide.
A friend of mine from Canada. Died of believe it or not , Athletes Foot. It caused an infection in his foot that spread into his blood and that was that. The simplest things can kill you.

All the more reason to begin raising animals for meat and milk and eggs (and begin the learning curve that goes with it.)

Vegetables and fruits that can be grown at home can only provide very few calories and very few nutrients. Think about it. They are just plain NOT dense enough or nutritious enough to survive on, and they can only be harvested for a couple months out of the year. It is only in this country of petroleum-based fertilizer and pesticides and vast tracts of corn/wheat/soy-planted land, that “vegetarians” can get away with their idiotic claims. They are not hungry for the simple reason that they can fill up the calorie hole with breads and sugars and soy-based “substitutes” like Tofurky and other such ridiculous concepts. Not only are these very difficult crops to grow at home, but they require a functional mass-producing industry just to process the stuff and make it palatable. And of course terrible nutrition is the obvious side-effect as well, as we are witnessing in the epidemic rates of diabetes, heart disease, and chronic immune disorders.

For some reason, meat has been vilified as “unsustainable” (as though animals are the problem, not us?) and “dirty” (they even try to convince us it is unhealthy.) Many lies are told comparing the water usage of CAFOs as though that bore any resemblance to the water usage of a small, sustainable farm. The fact remains that meat is what has made the very survival of humans possible, through ice ages, through weather extremes, through failed crops, and through mass disease.
Meat is what feeds our bodies with all of the protein, amino acids, vitamins and fats that we need. If you fail to prepare yourself to raise some kind of meat, particularly home-raised meat as works on farms (chickens, rabbits, goats, sheep, pigs, cows), you will fail to thrive. Period.

I’m with you on the processed foods part. But you would do well, Sarah, to do some serious additional reading on nutrition. I’m not a vegetarian, and certainly not vegan, but I do know that we evolved as omnivorous foragers, not carnivores, as much as many people would like to believe otherwise. Our bodies need the vegetative components, and Americans eat WAAAYYY too much meat.

Also, do you realize that there are many types of proteins? And despite your rant against veggies, many of the best proteins come from plants.

You can make tofu from soy beans, water and epsom salts (Mag Sulphate), and this is how most asians do it at home. Commerical stuff in the US uses gypsum for a higher calcium content. Japanese stuff uses Mag Chloride.

Not exactly toxic chemicals.

My take on it is any animal that needs to be fed is a poor food source in an emergency (unless they are eating scraps or byproducts) Animals that forage for at least 75% of their feed (assuming a 4-1 feed conversion ratio) may make good additions.

Just how are you going to feed said animals when things go to hell? Except for maybe rabbits most food animals require extra feed. How are you going to protect your food animals from the roving hordes? Any prolonged disruption of normal life will result in massive fatalities just from lack of simple medical care. How many insulin dependent diabetics are there? One or two million?

The problem with many of the vegtables that are high calorie count today is that they do require lots and lots of technology to produce in bulk. This dosent mean that you cant make enough for yourself. I grow plenty of potatoes and corn. It spends 3 months of the year inside and the rest of the growing season outside due to the weather but it is doable. The rice and soybeans take a lot of space, water and labor to do by hand. When I was a Kid we grew some wheat and harvested it with a sicle and shook out the wheat. It was a LOT of work. But it was doable.

Wow to this one. Life can sustain on mere plants. I am not a soy consumer, but I only feed meat to my dogs. There is a great deal of food to eat for protein and enzymes other than meat. Most people have become brainwashed that meat sustains life. They will be the first to die. So much ranting from people who think they are the only informed bunch. Braggers are usually the ones who lose the match. Eat on. Lenitls rock, and my dogs like them too.

Agreed about the racism (as well as the more practical parts of your post). It seems to me that most people here are sane, rational people who don’t hate others based on superficial reasons. It’s sad that a few people make the rest of us look like ignorant asses by the bigotry in their posts. Sorry to the haters but it’s 2012. Most of the world has moved on from the bigotry of the past and it’s time you joined the rest of humanity. This doesn’t mean that I think that racism against oneself should not be looked out for, it should. It’s just that while you are aware of the stupidity of others, you need not join in their ignorance.

well, it is easy for big nations to blabber about tolerance. all is peachy and rosy when there is no threat to the nation. neither Brits nor you Americans can imagine the life of a small nation. and besides, what if not terrible atrocities and racial extermination and exploitation put your nations to greatness. it is easy now to be benevolent and tolerant when you’re the king of the mountain. for us, little people, healthy xenophobia is the only way to survive. however Western progressive democracy is pushed upon us and our nations dwindle…
lonelonmum, since you’re the Brit, you must agree that there are thousands upon thousand of Lithuanians in UK… well, what seems an infestation to you, to us, who stayed behind it seems as a frakking exodus. Lithuania now resembles a country after WW2, minus all the destruction… and now they [gooberment and our beloved EU] are pushing us to import waves and waves of Chinese and the like…
I’m a racist, but I am one of the kind I guess. I do not advocate extermination of blacks, jews, or any other race, creed or nation. I do believe they all have their value and they are all human after all. what I don’t want is my country turning into a freakin’ hash mash of nationalities. I want Lithuania staying Lithuanian… is that too much to ask? does it make me into a blood thirsty racist?
my racism consists of one very simple idea – stay in your respective freakin’ country!
but I agree that this is completely off topic for SHTFplan…
btw…. OddQuestioner, it is not true that SHTF erases race and creed issue. unless it is an Alien invasion or something like that, xenophobia will reign supreme in any war/solar flare/ major but not total SHTF. it is in our instincts after all – if the stranger comes and he is black/brown/yeallow/speaking different tongue, then the group will turn him around and send him on his/her way… of course there are exemptions to this rule. your societies are tolerantized over long periods of time and it will be long if at all for your people to revert to that simple age old instinct… xenophobia is a survival instinct, so don’t fool yourselves that it is something that was/is invented by the Nazis…
all this I say with utmost respect for all the blacks/spanish/chinese/etc people reading this…. after all this will apply to them too. I would pay dearly to see a following scene:
it is postSHTF, a white lone wonderer who considers himself very progressive and tolerant comes up against a community of blacks…. imagine what will ensue and happen next. He will be accepted you say? then take a stroll down a ghetto tonight

“OddQuestioner, it is not true that SHTF erases race and creed issue. ”

I never said it would be erased – I said that the situation would make all people equal, as in equally hungry, equally scared, equally desperate, and equally without the comforts and conveniences they may be used to having.

Racists, like the poor, are what we will always have with us. Thing is, being blinded by hate also means being blinded to opportunities, and being blinded to skills and resources that can help keep you alive.

My last parish was half Hispanic. We prayed together, ate together, and had both good and bad times together. When my wife and I were in a bad way, the very first people to offer and give us help were from the Latino half of the church, even though they damned sure couldn’t afford it any better than we could at the time – and some of them were far worse off financially (you try raising 4 kids on a janitor’s pay…)

In a SHTF situation, I fully expect that the only places where race will matter are places where they matter all too much now. Everywhere else? We’ll just get along as best we can.

Odd Questioner, I understand everything you say, yet you do not understand me… you are an American! I am Lithuanian! there is big difference. I was born to a nation of more or less homogeneous constitution… USA was always a mixing pot for many ppl.
I can not ask for your understanding, so we should probably end this discussion…

I know full well that Lithuania has a near-perfectly homogeneous population. On the other hand, it makes your argument moot point in such a situation, since race won’t come into it at all where you live.

Odd Questioner, don’t go into the ASSuming land pal… my nation is more or less homogeneous, yes, but every day we see more and more chinks appearing here and taking jobs for even less for what we get. Do you get it? and I’m not talking about 20, or even 10 $ per hour! I’m talking 4$ and down to 1,5$ (bare minimum) so they come and do jobs for even less.
so don’t assume that we don’t have this problem. it is coming all the time with all that glorious EU policy. as to religion, political ideas etc, I don’t give a shit what my compatriots believe, they can be even followers of Church of Little green men from Mars for all I care. I just don’t want to see all those foreigners coming in with their own cultures.
but as I said, it is not worth discussing, you will never be able to understand a small mostly homogeneous nation… let’s leave it at that

“it is postSHTF, a white lone wonderer who considers himself very progressive and tolerant comes up against a community of blacks…. imagine what will ensue and happen next. He will be accepted you say? then take a stroll down a ghetto tonight”
I think that all depends on if the poor white fella strolled in Los Angeles or Dodge City Kansas…
Same goes for the black fella. Did he stroll in Huntsville Alabama or Austin Minnesota?
Wake up people…

well, it is easy for big nations to blabber about tolerance. all is peachy and rosy when there is no threat to the nation. neither Brits nor you Americans can imagine the life of a small nation. and besides, what if not terrible atrocities and racial extermination and exploitation put your nations to greatness. it is easy now to be benevolent and tolerant when you’re the king of the mountain. for us, little people, healthy xenophobia is the only way to survive. however Western progressive democracy is pushed upon us and our nations dwindle…
lonelonmum, since you’re the Brit, you must agree that there are thousands upon thousand of Lithuanians in UK… well, what seems an infestation to you, to us, who stayed behind it seems as a frakking exodus. Lithuania now resembles a country after WW2, minus all the destruction… and now they [gooberment and our beloved EU] are pushing us to import waves and waves of Chinese and the like…
I’m a racist, but I am one of the kind I guess. I do not advocate extermination of blacks, jews, or any other race, creed or nation. I do believe they all have their value and they are all human after all. what I don’t want is my country turning into a freakin’ hash mash of nationalities. I want Lithuania staying Lithuanian… is that too much to ask? does it make me into a blood thirsty racist?
my racism consists of one very simple idea – stay in your respective freakin’ country!
but I agree that this is completely off topic for SHTFplan…
btw…. OddQuestioner, it is not true that SHTF erases race and creed issue. unless it is an Alien invasion or something like that, xenophobia will reign supreme in any war/solar flare/ major but not total SHTF. it is in our instincts after all – if the stranger comes and he is black/brown/yeallow/speaking different tongue, then the group will turn him around and send him on his/her way… of course there are exemptions to this rule. your societies are tolerantized over long periods of time and it will be long if at all for your people to revert to that simple age old instinct… xenophobia is a survival instinct, so don’t fool yourselves that it is something that was/is invented by the Nazis…
all this I say with utmost respect for all the blacks/spanish/chinese/etc people reading this…. after all this will apply to them too. I would pay dearly to see a following scene:
it is postSHTF, a white lone wonderer who considers himself very progressive and tolerant comes up against a community of blacks…. imagine what will ensue and happen next. He will be accepted you say? then take a stroll down a ghetto tonight

Both the UK and the US were founded on the genocide/expulsion of the indigenous peoples.

I’m suggesting people drop the hate long enough to LEARN from the experiences of others so that when the implementation of the global slave plantation hits their own neighbourhood they can use the experiences of those who went before elsewhere to help them resist.

It’s about using your mental energy constructively today, rather than allowing your inner strength to be diverted down blind alleys.

The ptb test a method in one location, and then if it is a success use the same technique elsewhere to control us. Countries & communities fall like dominoes.

sorry lonelonmum, but that’s truly “blah blah”
quote:I’m suggesting people drop the hate long enough to LEARN from the experiences of others so that when the implementation of the global slave plantation hits their own neighbourhood they can use the experiences of those who went before elsewhere to help them resist.
and the experience I learned from the history of my country, UK, USA, France, Russia and the rest is this:
Kill, enslave, exterminate, otherwise your country will fade away… take a look at Lithuania in 14th-17th century and compare it with today, see what I mean?
also, if I would take experience from England of today, then I would be having a few slaves of my own right now… and if Afghani or Iraqi are showing us something, it is – exterminate and intolerate everything and anything that is not like you. with all your tolerance Germany will be a Muslim state by 2050! it’s in our lifetime! and it’s not some ravings of racist lunatic from Lithuania, it’s official statement of German statistics department.
quote:It’s about using your mental energy constructively today, rather than allowing your inner strength to be diverted down blind alleys.
and who is to say what is a blind alley? a soft progressive who gets 20 and more $ per hour, or people like me who struggle to survive on 1,5$ per hour and get threatened that Chinese will come to work for 0.5$ per hour??? soft living has its own bonuses – like the ability to blabber about how sunny and wonderful it would be if people just stopped hating each other. You can preach “stop hate” stuff to those who have 1500 Euro salaries, not to me…
quote:The ptb test a method in one location, and then if it is a success use the same technique elsewhere to control us. Countries & communities fall like dominoes.
tptb control only those who are uneducated and narrow minded. my racism stems from long studies of history of nations, wars and conquests. I would never go along our gooberment’s call to “democratize” Afghans, yet I would die fighting them here at home any time of the day. if it’s OK by you to see London turn into some sort of Pakistani/Indian/Turkish/African mischung then have it then. me, I don’t want to see them here. I would want to go to Pakistan and see their culture right there (as a tourist, mind you!), and I would have liked to see true British culture in London… ah well, I guess not all the dreams come true.
freakin’ shit is this globalization and modern tolerance. all the white ppl singing cumbaya while being f!@#ed over by the wave of immigration. but that is your way, I hope that it won’t come to that here, otherwise we shall need some Breiviks galore here…

oh one more thing. If my country in 14th century would have behaved like England in 18-19th and your country like mine then I would be probably lecturing you about the need to tolerate blacks and chinks in our midst and you would be telling me what I told you previously…
just think about it

oh and one mooore thing….
when I said this: Kill, enslave, exterminate, otherwise your country will fade away… I didn’t mean that one should do this now. because some countries are doing exactly this and I am vehemently opposed to that. everybody should just stick to their own borders and live best they can. This was MO before “modern times” and it won’t work in today’s world, but mark my words, when SHTF on a major scale, this truth will return and those who just let strangers in on their soil will end up like ye olde Romans

“Tolerance” will play a big role in the undoing of USA. The people we are told to be “tolerant” of are very intolerant of any other than their own ethnic group. Case in point: Muslims. More could be listed, but we all know who they are.

I agree, racism is a stupid and non logical response, and its a serious waste of time that should be devoted to getting as much “off the grid” as you possibly can. It does need to be pointed out however that racism is an “equal opportunity employer” and there are racists of every color. I would argue that in the inner cities of this country, SHTF has ALREADY happened, and if you’re the “wrong” color in such places, and you’re not carrying, you are already in serious jeopardy…never mind a situation where the government is only bothering to protect the really “important” members of society, and screw the rest of us.

That much being said, I would like to send a shout out to the muscular Asian dude on Youtube who showed me how to dry fire my new 12 gauge, and the African American gentlemen who has a video on using stripper clips for an SKS. I found both of them to be very helpful, as I am one of those four eyed east coast intellectuals who has never owned a gun before, but has read enough to history to see what happens when a society starts breaking down. Honestly, I don’t see it as “prepping”, just plain common sense!

Thank you for those remarks, Lonlonmum. I did notice the rants, and even though thats the stereotype of a prepper, its obvious its not everyone, but when it rears its head, I get more disgusted than the sense of community I come to these boards for. Well said, I appreciate it, and it sucks that 33 people on here thought you were wrong for pointing out that people from Argentina, Mexico, Greece, etc have been through these economic collaspe, and THEY are people we don’t want to turn away with our comment rhetoric. Thanks again!

Also, I would love to hear people in from Hurricane Katrina fiasco, and here their survivor stories, what they saw, who did what, what ACTUALLY happen. Wouldn’t want to turn them away, they have first hand accounts of what SHTF means.

While the rest of the world gets a cover that focuses on the election of Hollande and the economic challenges this presents, we Americans have been treated to a photo of a hot blond mama with her young gentleman, allegedly three years old, standing on a chair, wearing camo pants, and nursing off her teat. It’s super awesome, needless to say, and isn’t going to scar the boy for life or anything. The message I took from it was…pay no attention to the financial collapse behind the curtain…ya Boobs!

This is a scenario I am dealing with now. I was blind (not literally) for so long as to the situation and I have finally began to prepare but convincing family members of the seriousness of the situation seems impossible. I am never treated harshly or with disdain by them but by an aggravating indifference. This article might serve to help but dealing with those who receive their news from the MSM is very difficult. I only hope that there is time.

I am so glad I do not have to try to make my family prep for hard times. We all woke up at the same time. It was strange to say the least. The whole family jumped in on prepping. We started going over what was happening in the world all around us and started making a plan. We have a total of 11 family members that are on board. My mom, dad, step mom, both my brothers, and my husband and kids are in this together. there are 7 adults and 4 kids.

We dont know what is around the corner for us so all we can do is prep for the worst and pray for the best and when it gets here pray that we are prepared enough to make it out on the other side and if we don’t well at least we know we tried.

Some might read this and think its an exaggeration. Can’t say for sure what it will be like, but you can bet it will be really, really ugly. I read some where awhile ago, that something like 50 to 70% would perish in the first thirty to sixty days for a variety of reasons, but the most common being the stress and lack of pharmaceuticals. Think about it, how people are doped up just so they can function on a daily basis. What happens when they can’t get their meds compounded with the stress of no food and water.

Katrina should have been an eye opener. Look what happen at the superdome? It was a free for all, and I’m sure we never heard half the horror stories, even though the ones we have heard about (at least those of us who actually paid attention) were bad enough. And the gov’t did finally show up. Imagine when it hits so hard there isn’t enough gov’t if any to come and help.

That’s why I stay in a rural area. Access to water, septic system for waste disposal and a wood burner for heat. Besides the obvious food and water preps, I’ve been stocking up on medicinal items as well such as antibiotics when I can get them. Rubbing alcohol, hydrogen peroxide, bacitracin plus a descent first aid kit.

I am relatively new to the area where I currently live and family live to far away to be of any help. I do have one family member who is prepping. So I try not to worry to much about them. Nothing I can do anyways. The hardest part for me is making connections with like minded folk in my area. I make it point to buy goods from the local farmers in hopes that they will remember me and be willing to barter.

For the most part my plan will be to just sit tight and wait it out for the first three to six months. After that its anybody’s guess. This may sound cold and harsh, but I figure by then the weak will be weeded out and there won’t be as much competition for resources.

Here’s a little nasty truth. Those that refuse to prep will be considered by the government as disposable population. Harsh but its true, and we know it! The government, when it hits the fan will slither back in their protected sanctuaries and not give a flying dam as to what is happening outside, no matter what. They will have theirs and “fuck you, I have mine.” They know there are a large useless group of eaters out there and that’s how they are viewed realistically.
This article in my view doesn’t go far enough, by a long shot. It speaks of fecal smells. What about decomping corpses? Where did they come from? They starved to death. Died of dehydration, mortal wounds, infections, violence, and suicides. And who will give a shit? Very dam few if any. Its all part of the game, as unimaginable as it seems, this is just a game too some. The way some think, better you than me. Sucks to be you!
Case and point. You hear of a bomb going off somewhere in a distant land killing say 70 people. You hear about it on the nightly news, did you give it a second thought? Most likely not. Same thing here, to them (our government) they couldn’t care less. Their just spending money making a living and you are just some kind of troublesome number (maybe) on an Excel spreadsheet. One less mouth to feed and to listen too.
The “eater” group, some of them most likely will be baited and used, in any form. (Carrot on a stick effect). Wanna eat? Go clean that mess up over there. Most likely some unsavory nasty thing you couldn’t pay somebody to do. Think a little here. When they found Auschwitz, who stacked the bodies like cord wood?
If this goes off as we think it might. Humans will be traded off like cattle. You, your wife, and your kids. And nobody but you will give a shit. Nobody!
You had better grow a set of nuts, and buck up. If you don’t want to take care of yourself and your family, nobody will and nobody will care. Its up to you!!

@ hammerun. I thought much about going much, much further in the visualization of just how really hideous it will be for the non-prepper, but I decided not to quite cross that line for a couple of reasons. First I hoped that something like this could be passed around to that NP in someone’s life without crossing the line of someone reading something that was too intense. Next I wanted the prepper that passes this around to help others to not look too radical and more like someone genuinely concerned about their welfare. You know the terrible misconception that the poor prepper gets by the media and so many other angles.

To tell you the truth it was very difficult not to throw in some of the very intense and “grotesque” consequences of those failing to put away for emergencies. The goal was to make it family friendly enough but still show those NP’s that their lack of effort to spend some of their resources on life insurance prepartions for themselves and their familes will have drastic outcomes when a disaster intense enough to shut down society occurs. Kind of like walking a tightrope.

@Be informed; I can see your point going soft on this subject. It could be disconcerting and uncomfortable in some forums, but not here.
Mac would have better information on this but I am going to take a WAG (wild assed guess) and say the usual visitor here just didn’t hap hazardly stumble onto this site while wondering around thru the internet jungle. They were looking for it because they had questions and sought answers. That may be a leadin for your next article titled; How horrific it “can” get for a NP. Just put a warning banner under the title,
NOT FOR THE FAINT OF HEART!
As far as being family palatable. Would it be better to read about it here or find out the hard truth later and too late?

Arco – my hubby and I relocated to an rural area. We’d been here several times working on the house, but as far as I’m concerned I want nothing to do with the city.We are only going back to the city once a month until the house sells.

I’ve given up on my family. They think I’m a whack job conspiracy theorist and my in-laws are the same way. My MIL who’s in her 80′s lived through the depression and she’s the only one who doesn’t think we’re crazy for prepping.

I don’t tell hardly anyone what I have. It just creates jealousy and envy and that’s the last thing you need as a newbie in a smaller town.

Church is really big around here and so is the VFW. I’m going to join the VFW and do some church shopping. Wednesdays the town shuts down so that’s a good night and Sunday night to attend church and meet people. It’s not a bad way to meet single townspeople as more families go Sunday morning.

I’ve been approached by locals just wanting to talk and I’ve approached people. It’s very easy. I don’t talk about politics, just the simple stuff like the weather, the town history, etc. I really don’t want to “out” myself for lack of a better term as a prepper.

I find the older people, 60 and up really like to talk about the history of their town. That’s if they’ve stayed there and never left. They’re a great resource for what is where.

Garage sales are big in smaller towns. If you go early Saturday morning, you’ll find plenty of country folk to talk to.

We found a local guy who sells eggs for a $1 a dozen. We have a couple of fruit trees in our back yard.

I hope my tips help you, as you seem like a decent person. I’m glad I’m out of the city.

I’m a dedicated Christian and I’m a prepper. God has provided me with the means to prep and I’ve done so. I’ve tried talking to people in the church but they’re as blind as those outside it. I only have so much money, so much water, and so much food. I was thinking that maybe we could take in one more person but now we found that my stepson’s girlfriend is pregnant. I have no idea where we’ll store 1500 disposable diapers.

Cloth nappys. The set I used on my son are about to be used for my sister’s 2nd child and should last 2-3 moree babies after that. The “trick” I found was in high quality, well fitting out wraps (the velcro types will fit all body shapes and motherease is a good brand that retains it’s value on the 2nd hand market).

While on the topic of hygiene – have you enough menstrual cups/cloth pads for post shtf?

A menstrual cup and a small milk pan (for sterilising purposes between visits from Aunt Flo) is a cost effective way of ensuring good feminine hygiene. The average lifespan on one cup is 10 years and they take very little room to store. Patterns for making your on pads are available at hillbilly housewife .com and many other places on the web.

Sorry to squirm any guys reading this out – but I have no intention of risking my life, nor do I want to see any other lady on here up against the junkies/nutters/druggies that will be looting the pharmacies post shtf.

I can prep for me, my wife, my stepson, his future wife, and their future child. My parents are dead. I have sisters. They have husbands, children, and grandchildren. My wife has brothers and sisters. We don’t have the space or the resources to take care of them. Sure, I could hand them a box of Cheerios and a gallon of water but that’s not going to change the outcome.

It’s more horrible for a non believer to eat their children than a believer? ODD. Only advantage a believer will have is they can eat their Bible. Stalin shot a lot of believers in the back of the head and they died just the same.

Who knows what will really happen, but the Boy Scouts motto of “BE PREPARED” can really be used now and in the future. Common sense says to do so, and I think more sheeple are realizing that the slow motion train is more than the light in a tunnel in the distance.
I HOPE FOR THE BEST, PREPARE FOR THE WORST.
Maybe one day common sense will be the norm, afraid that will be a long time down the road.

“BMLOF” BAD MANAGEMENT, LACK OF FOCUS”.
My personal favorite that explains so many facts of life as we know it.

Your are so correct…
Too many people are in denial, and do not see the impending chaos that will be happening soon.
I hope everyone will at least buy insurance in terms of food, water, defense, shelter, and personal needs to fend off the outcome of the coming disaster.
We are in a big problem which will unfold soon, making paper money useless, thus in hand products will be used as barter.
Do your due homework…
me

Exactly. As I’ve said before, if we could imagine ourselves in the middle of, say, the year 2000. What was life like? Now, if you could instantly be dumped into 2012, the shock would be overwhelming. Right, it may not be a single cliff event that crashes it all…. but if people can’t see the change we’ve endured so far, the slippery slope….. I send them pity…but I also send them love… they’re gonna need it. Prepare, prepare, prepare.

To be approached ith care – some “green” organisations (be careful as some environmental groups are very dodgy, some are great). Permaculture groups may be a good place to start. In the UK very careful use of the site “diggers and dreamers” may put you in touch ith like minded individuals. Churches may be useful but do be careful if you try this route.

My lad has an amazing visual memory as a result of his autism – it’s been utilised by teaching him to forage and recognise foods in nature. Others are likely to overlook these unusual food stuffs but his skill may save his life some day. Best thing is he really enjoys getting out and sourcing novel foods- better than playing on an X-box

The despertion of the (NP) will be one of the biggest dangers to the prepped. Not just physically, but emotionally to anyone with the slightest bit of compassion. I rue the day that I turn away a starving family, or worse yet have to kill someone who was simply desperate and mad with hunger. As bad as that day will be, after the event is over and my family is fed, watered, and safe my conscience will justify it.

Have alot of Mormon friends or family members. They know how to prep. Back up power will be a real game changer. If a small freezer can be kept operaing and some small electric lights life will be much better. Of course having lights might attract those who do not and decide to take them.

The minute you fire up a generator it will be a calling to all around that you have supplies. A better way is to go with a solar inverter which is quiet. May not produce as much power as quickly as a gen but it will not alert everyone either.

I started prepping after I lost my construction job back in 2008. Got on the government teet w/ unimployment and $20.00 a week for about 2 years and was able to amass enough rice, beans, tuna,salmon, veggies, olive oil* & amunition to last me and one other person for about 18 months (2 years if the hunting is good)! So yes I agree, with very little money you can definately stockpile a good little nest egg! Nobody I talked to about it would take me serious when I mentioned they should start putting something aside! Over the last couple of months they have been coming up to me asking what they should do to start prepping! I tell them, exactly! Start prepping! Trouble is I had some time to acquire my supplies on a very limited budget. The people asking me how they should prep are all on a very limited budget with no time left!

Okay–I’ll say it—cell phone or land line??
Cable tv??
Smoke?? Fast food every now and then??
Latest blings??
Entertainment like movies/Netflix, dinner out??
Oh, and I let my hair grow (old bun lady) just to save hair cut expense.
Use dollar shampoo, dish detergent, laundry detergent,vinegar and water for some cleaners, etc and that’s a start.
There are ways as you say, CC, and if you can do it, so can they.

dont i know it…homemade laundry detergent, the old fashioned clothesline, no eating out anywhere, letting the hair grow down to the waist, planting the garden with veggies that can be stored for long periods of time, repairing and using the treadlle sewing machine, making my own clothing, so on and so forth since 2008. using skills i have not used in many many years, but like riding a bike, ya never really forget how to do it, especially when current and future hard times deem some things as necessary to survive and thrive.

Okay–I’ll say it—cell phone or land line?? Cell-by-the-minute, using about $3 a month/$10 year. Web service at cafe or fraternal lodge.
Cable tv?? Not for 15 years. Mass-media is bad for you in lots of ways, even free.
Smoke?? $6.50 for a pack of cigarettes? No thanks. Ruins lungs/heart/BP. Fast food every now and then?? For the cost of FF, you can eat 4 meals of good food. Hungry for a few hours is good for you, compared to FF. Drink a quart of water and learn some patience.
Latest blings?? No bling: thrift store watch add battery, ancient PPC Mac, payment-less car with DIY repair, small house. No boutique pets.
Entertainment like movies/Netflix, dinner out?? See mass-media comment above. Books from library after finding on web. Dinner out no more than quarterly. No drinks when out- buy a bottle for home.
Self-cut hair, coupons and shop cheap. Don’t be dirty, be clean and cheap.

“There are ways as you say, CC, and if you can do it, so can they.” +1

Wrong Jason, unemployment insurance premiums are paid by the employer, not the recipient and are only enough to cover the first 26 weeks, not 2 years. The tax payer picks up the tab after 26 weeks. Thera are a couple of states where the employee pays in a very small portion of the premium but not much at all.

Jason – it is an insurance premium paid by the employer, HOWEVER, if the employee was not there with his or her labor, the business could not be run. Those businesses did not get successful just by the owners. It was people like me and you that helped those businesses grow. Sure I received a salary and benefit, but I worked my ass off for it.

I’m not a socialist but I drew unemployment. I could not find a job to save my life. Eventually my unemployment would run out, I’d exhaust what little money I had left. I was hired at many companies for minimum wage.

All of the companies who hired me either went out of business due to lack of business or they laid me off as I was the low woman on the totem pole.

I get very frustrated with those who bemoan those who get unemployment. What should we do? Starve? Live under a bridge? If you’re sleeping in your car the cops will hassle you. If you’re a single woman or man living in a shelter can cost you your life.

I worked for many years for employers with no break in employment. A few years ago I was laid off with NO warning that was going to happen. I had money saved so that help to tide me over, but I had not drawn unemployment I would have been homeless, pure and simple.

Unemployment is NOT socialism. It’s taking care of American workers who were laid off due to no fault of our own. It’s not our fault that our government shipped all of our jobs overseas leaving us with the scraps. We and illegal aliens are fighting over those scraps.

These same right wingers that have NO problem funding the military industrial complex in the middle east which is nothing but a Jew harvest, will balk at unemployment.

And that reason is so it is accepted. It us not “insurance”.The employee puts in no funds. None. Got it. Good. If you believe it,go risk everything and start a business high a few blokes, and see what they REALLY get paid.

Fat finger typos/smartphone pos keypad.(below) Start your own business, hire a few blokes, and see what the cost really is. By the way, we small business folks are doing way more, with way less. Every hire comes with sooooooo much overhead, paper, $$$$$, risk, etc.etc., that it’s easier to work harder than to hire on. Sorry folks, thats the way it is. Thank your Federal, State and Local governments that just can not stop bleeding us like f..ing leaches.

Only place I could give a comment about the unemployemnt issue. Yes the employer pays for the 1st 26 weeks and then it goes to the tax payer to pick up the tab. Has everyone forgotten that WE ARE ALL TAX PAYERS and we have all payed into unemployment with our taxes? So for someone to say that the unemployed are free loaders OR for employers to say that they are the only ones paying are getting off track a bit, don’t you think? We ALL pay in some fashion for our benefits.

How dare you come on this forum and brag about sucking the government teat. It’s greedy and irresponsible people like you that helped make this economic mess. Despicable behavior. Glad you’re in Colorado.

Seems like SHTFPlan has a lot of socialist onboard here. I guess after the collapse the “unemployed” can find something to eat with them. Go ahead and post your contact info so these freeloaders can find you when the time comes.

It’s worse than mentioned above:
“Unemployment Insurance” is *stolen* from both the worker and employer during the course of legal employment. The worker gets lower wages during work and the employer has a paperwork burden and essentially is competing with the “wages” paid to non-working employees while the State pays them. It’s no coincidence that people miraculously find jobs about 2 weeks before the benefits run out!

So, prices are higher than they need to be. Employers who are “self-employed” have to pay the UE tax BUT CAN NOT QUALIFY for unemployment compensation if their business closes due to poor conditions! Thus, are in my humble opinion totally fooked.

Some States have UE for 13 weeks, some for 26 weeks. The 99+ week deal is federally-funded for some States under some circumstances. IMHO, it’s a bad idea, since it’s all borrowed money.

Mac, you sure cleaned up my chicken scratching and made a well condensed and well organized article. Do you have a degree in English or something, boy can you organize thoughts. No wonder this site is one of the number one survival oriented sites on the web. God you are good. I sure wish I had these skills that you have.

I hope this article helps the prepper to have something to show those around them that just don’t want to put anything away for emergencies. Like I mentioned before, for every person that someone adds to their survival group their time of self sufficiency and survival time drops. X(Y)/(Y+Z) X= number of days of survival supplies for group. Y= number of people in the survival group. Z= number of additional people added to the survival group unexpectedly. The end solution shows how many days of survival a group now has with the extra people. Example: 180 days of supplies for 10 people and 8 family members show up to “share”. 10 times 180 = 1800 then divide this by (10+8) or 18 to get 100 days of survival time because of the additional 8 people.

This simple formula everyone should know because people are going to come to the prepper for help that have neglected to put anything away. It is very hard to turn away your own family. This can be solved by convincing those family and friends to put away like you are doing. A daunting task, but not impossible.

We, collectively, may be facing some tough times. However, there is no real threat of the nation being in an untenable situation as described. Sure; some urban areas may be visited by riots and food and water shortages, but we won’t have people drying like flies.

Certainly, it makes sense to store a bit of food like beans and rice and to have some water bottles at home and maybe some candles, but making a major project out of”prepping” simply isn’t in anyone’s long term benefit. Actually, taking a few steps now, which fit into one’s life style, makes sense from a present hygienic and less-burdensome viewpoint. Just don’e get carried away either with excessive (compulsive) activities nor with figuring that tomorrow will be just like today.

The true and honest account of the American Dust Bowl, Great Depression and American Holocaust goes un-narrated for political, social and religious reasons. The two combined events removed life, liberty and justice from the poor and working poor of the American population. The Dust Bowl occurred from the natural global effects of a cooling climate termed Glacial Respiration which mechanisms are outlined in the H2onE2 book. The unnatural events of the stock market crash and Great Depression was a tool used by the Robber baron Industrialists to starve homesteaders off the oil rich Great Plains. The Robber barons included Rockefeller, Vanderbilt and investors like Andrew Mellon. Following their deaths billions were willed into philanthropist institutes which fuel endowments, grants and all large nonprofit organizations. In addition to constructing universities, hospitals, museums and churches to insure history conceals their personal involvement and prevents the narration of the American Holocaust. Let’s also mention the religious organizations which received millions in philanthropist capital, essentially to build churches and keep silent. During 1863 to 1903 the Rockefeller Foundation donated 43.75% of his charitable funds to building some 357 Churches. Rockefeller also made personal gifts to more than 120 leading ministers, from 1863 to 1903.
According to the US census statistics, America lost 10 million of its population from 1931 to 1940. A Russian researcher, Boris Borisov worked on uncovering the death toll during the American Famine and his estimates are that 5 million children died of starvation and 2.5 million adults. This is equal to all the Jews that died during the WWII Holocaust, so an event equal in magnitude. Boris Borisov describes the movement of the American population out of the Dust Bowl affected region as a Hunger March. President Hoover ordered regular military soldiers to crush all social unrest. A large majority of the population fleeing the Dust Bowl region headed to California. These Americans were met at the boarder by police and state national guard who beat them back into the Mojave and Sonoran Desert. Thirst and starvation was the final outcome. “Bound for Glory”, an autobiography of Woody Guthrie records a striking account of these events. Besides blocking the roads into California, freight trains were stopped by police in the most desolated desert regions and the unwanted refugee passengers were rounded up, beaten and removed of any food, water or personal identification. They were left to die in the desert as the train moved on. The Woody Guthrie song “This Train” turns out to be a eulogy to the victims of these events. “This Train” describes how the refugees did nothing to deserve the treatment experienced on the American Death Trains.

Glad you posted this comment. Many people have no idea what really happened to those dust bowl okies. A little research, and a check of some of the sources, like old books and newspapers from the era, would probably change peoples minds. The history we’ve been taught is NOT the whole truth. Or maybe even half a truth.
And a side comment, the reputation given to the okies who trekked to Calif took a long time to overcome. My aunt and uncle were going to rent a house in LA area and after the deal with the landlady was complete, she asked where they were from. When they said ‘we’re from Oklahoma’ she refused to rent to them and told them, “I never rent to okies.” That was in the mid 1960′s! Some of those stereotypes die hard!

I never knew until reading these comments any of this and I have to agree with SmokinOkie. The history that has been taught is a fairy tale. Like America had no indigenous horses or that Christopher Columbus discovered America. Thank you both for this startling info and I’m off to find that song by Woodie Guthrie.

On this topic,the Wood Pile Report ran a series of photos over a few months of homeless and dispossesed people from the Depression era. I printed a bunch off to save in my notebooks as a reminder of how bad things could get.Too bad he didn’t archive them….they are truly a wakeup call.

History has clearly shown that no nation that goes down the path that we are on comes through it without traumatic consequence.

You need look no further than Rome. The end result of the collapse of the Roman Empire was the Dark Ages. That is the direction in which we are headed.

Most people do not understand just how fragile our supply infrastructure is, and just how little it will take for it to unravel. There is not a city in this country with more than a weeks supply of food. And I believe that most are in an even more tenuous position.

Our dependence up on the power grid also puts us in a very precarious position. Lose the grid, and we are back in the middle of the 1850′s with none of the skills or even necessary equipment to grow our own food.

I have neither the time nor patience to explain all of the different ways this could go down.

Study this a little harder and you’ll begin to understand what I’m talking about.

Really???? I lived through Hurricane Andrew. Look up some pics of Homestead AFB, etc….We even lost the broadcast tower for the National Weather Service during the storm; it took a direct hit. Preparing for weather emergencies like hurricanes, snowstorms, etc. is a good start.

We’re about to have hyperinflation in the US due to money printing. Everything will get more and more expensive. The world will drop the dollar as the world’s reserve currency. OPEC won’t sell us oil in dollars anymore. We import 70% of our oil. Once OPEC shuts off the oil the rest will be taken by the government. Food won’t be transported across the country. Stores will be emptied. Once enough people can’t pay $1000 or $1500 for their monthly electric bill the entire grid will go down. I expect AT LEAST 90% of the US population to die.

I find it a REAL delima to try to figure out what I need to buy since my money is tight, do I buy FOOD, AMMO, WATER FILTERS, Plywood to board up windows, WHAT??? Until it actually gets here NO ONE knows really what they need the most of and every person will have a different situation of need, based on their situation at hand. You can get some ideas at:http://surviving12-21-2012.blogspot.com
God Bless and KEEP YOU and YOURS

@ Tony Lamb, buy a steady balance of guns ammo and food, start off with a cheap .22 rifle and spend $45 dollars on 1000 rounds of ammo.(cant beat that)Then buy bags of dried rice and beans to start storing in buckets. if for some crazy reason you cant do that than i would suggest finding a job aroung greensboro n.c. and joining with me. you seem like you are willing to contribute and work hard.

First, make a budget and free up some cash from what you do now. Don’t just go buying stuff willy-nilly. Don’t collapse your current situation because the “limping along” could go several more years.

This is a hedge. You are not looking to get rich, you are looking to slightly shrink your luxurious living in the now, to cushion a future that might include hunger, cold, dehydration, coercion and violence. Start with the grinding minimal basics of survival.

Your situation will dictate preparing to stay, permanently moving to a safer place, or preparing to do a short-notice hopefully slightly-before-the-hordes bug-out to the safer place.

All 3 of these require appropriate on-foot clothing. The vehicular bug out might be using the last fuel you will get for years, and part of that trip may be on-foot.

Water: stored in containers, means to capture/gather, means to purify. 2 gallons per day, per person, while traveling/working, minimum.

Food: preserved food is good. More is better. Concealed where you are going is best. You can walk sort of hungry. Preserved food is to get you to harvests: you will be a Future Farmer, hopefully as a landowner, not a serf.

Weapons: Go lighter than you might want if you are short of funds or are starting late. You NEED at least a handgun and a longarm with your group. The handgun can be a .22LR (like a Ruger MkII or MkIII) and the longarm can be a used 12 ga pump shotgun (models 500 or 870). Both will deter and kill, but are not optimum in a fight. A 9mm handgun (like Glock 17) and a .22Lr carbine (Ruger 10/22) with glass optic and folding stock is another thrifty pair of effective lightweight weapons. Note .22LR, 9x19mm, 12ga are the most-common and least expensive types of ammunition, which allows you to buy the most you can afford NOW. 500 rounds of .22LR-$17, 250 rounds of 9×19 FMJ $69, 15 rounds of buckshot $17 at Portland Oregon Bi-Mart 15 May 2012. You will need these kind of weapons in any case, and ought to be armed very soon regardless of the situation (slow-decline, collapse, long-depression, etc.). These are physically light weapons that will travel on foot well enough shouldered while you have a pack on.
Later, as you have funds AFTER securing 6 months worth of preserved food and water-tools, consider a semi-auto military-pattern rifle or carbine in .223, 7.62×39 or .308Win. There is a lot of info out there on the various considerations. The main one is that all of these cartridges out-range .22LR and 9×19 by hundreds of yards.

Bicycle: will both save you money (fuel and wear) NOW and will begin to get you in shape as you need to run errands. City people should especially start riding bicycles to cut down on short car trips. Country people should have several bicycles hanging in a shed, in good shape with locks attached. Stationary exercise bicycle may be safer than riding on fast rural roads until fuel is unavailable.

Binoculars: New or used, waterproof or not. Get several pairs of sporting full-sized binoculars in 6×35, 7×35, 8×40, 10×40, 10×50. Thrift store and garage sale may provide good well-preserved sets with cases for well-under $20/pair.
There is going to be a lot more watching and waiting than shooting. Look at military sniper manuals for observation technique, and note that the person in-charge is the SPOTTER, not the shooter.

SKILLS: they don’t weigh anything, and will save you. Generalize enough to ensure the basics, then specialize to make a re-sellable product or service.

I think it’s too late for any real change to occur that doesn’t involve bloodshed and human loss on a massive scale. When this will occur its hard to say obviously but I’m guessing within our lifetime.

Do even the most prepared preppers really have any idea what they’re prepping for?

Short term survival at best it seems.

Its impossible to predict what life will be like after the SHTF but of all the possible scenarios none of the most likely to happen are good.

I’ve heard people say, “Why bother prepping? If things go bad there’s nothing I can do about it so I’m just gonna enjoy things as they are while I can and let the chips fall where they may.”

Given their lives will likely be much worse after a collapse IF they happen to survive it, I sometimes find myself questioning whether my own preoccupation with prepping for unknown disasters and the accompanying depression and stress that goes along with it is worth it.

In the end we’re all gonna die sometime. Is prepping really about minimizing how much one suffers before they die versus trying to survive long enough to see a better tomorrow?

I find depression and stress not very helpful. I hear people talk about “white knuckle” prepping and I don’t feel that it should be that way. In my experience it has evolved more into a lifestyle change more than anything. I don’t even consider myself a prepper anymore. We are not guarenteed a collapse nor a tomorrow for that matter. You need to enjoy life also, it goes by too fast. I was just looking and it’s almost been 10 years since I woke up. Time flies.

What kind of talk is that….The human race has been around for many tens of thousands of years. So all of a sudden life isn’t worth living if we have a major setback. We loose our cool toys and easy life style. We are here where we are today thanks to the generations who came before us. And those who have seen this storm and prepped have the best chance to survive. Just like the countless generations before ours.

An article that I read here recently said that the average family in the United States has, on average, between three and seven days of food on hand at any given time. The day that Bert’s Burger Barn closes and the supermarket shelves clear out and aren’t immediately replenished …… that will be the beginning of the end for these these unprepared folks.

“Short term survival at best it seems.” How can it be any other way? My family and I really don’t harbor any sort of false illusions that we will survive for very long in any real sort of an Armageddon style complete crash of society type of a situation. We do intend to survive the transition from “What the fuck???” to “Oh shit!!!!!” and to live long enough to be reasonably certain how the whole thing will finally ‘shake-out’.

Reports of incidents of violent civil unrest and news of catastrophic economic disasters seem to be happening with increasingly frequency, on an almost daily basis, all around the world. Where I live, in South Central Florida, the crackle of gunfire is an almost nightly occurrence in certain nearby neighborhoods. Rather than pulling over to the side of the road and producing their license, registration and proof of insurance …… more and more motorists now seem to be choosing to shoot it out with the police! WTF??? People are driving much more aggressively now than I remember previously. There are a whole lot of people out there operating on very short fuses.

This promises to be a VERY interesting summer. I personally don’t think that this ‘show’ has very much longer left to run on this stage.

No matter how difficult your current situation is; I have a feeling that these present times will be remembered as our ‘good-old-days’

God Bless and good luck to all who post here. Please make a serious effort to correct any deficiencies in your preparations as quickly as possible.

Optimist: I go for the ‘better’ tomorrow; notice I didn’t say equal or easier tomorrow, for we here know it will be harder…but why make it even harder or termnal to your loved ones by not putting away rice and beans…and a few supplies???
I just don’t get it.

One thing you don’t want to do is be one of the mob hitting the stores in the frenzy when people finally realize that there is nothing at home to eat put away and that once the stores are empty there will not be any more deliveries. That is why even two weeks of preps will make a big difference.

“In the end we’re all gonna die sometime. Is prepping really about minimizing how much one suffers before they die versus trying to survive long enough to see a better tomorrow?”

Me personally, I do not prep to ease suffering. I don’t even really prep so I don’t go hungry. I do it with the mindset that I do not desire to be controlled by the powers that be. My prepping is to keep me sustained hopefully until I am able to live completely free of the need for currency and to have access to a few items I can live without, but be glad I have when I am self sufficient such as sugar or even band aids. Medical supplies are not on the top of my list because studying what was used before these things existed has eased my mind about a ton of medical stuff i thought i needed to get. Everyone relies heavily on antibiotics and expects the plague when SHTF but there was a solution for bugs before antibiotics, but most did not realize the significance and that is silver. Microbial bugs die in it. In the western days water stayed fresh when a silver coin was thrown in the trough or barrel. No one knew why. They just knew it worked. We now know that boiling rags will make them sterile. Boiling anything for that matter will make it sterile. The world is setting itself up for every world government to demand its people to adhere to its currency rules or not be able to have access to the markets. Preppers generally prep for short term survival. I choose to look farther into this mess and prep for self sufficiency.
The government will demand payment for taxes on your property one day probably after the currency collapse and new currency arrival. It’s just a guess “when”. If you have your land and plan you may want to find out how to prevent from having to pay taxes on it. It’s possible. You will have to do your own research on how. I would have to start a new blog on that subject. If you folks think the western countries made it to trillions in debt by accident or foolishness you can forget about it. Spend time as you prep learning what was used before modern society and how others made it through terrible times such as the depression and you may see what I have…that you and others with like minds don’t even need a store and that doctors are just pawns. Think about it. If my seasonal depression is cured by simply getting more light why do they insist i take an anti depressant? If they are aware calcium stops menstrual cramps why do they write prescriptions for pain pills or give hormone shots? Anemia can be cured by simply cooking all your food in an iron skillet. Prepare yourself with protection in mind. Prepare yourself for no utilities in mind or grocery stores even. We all seem to agree this is a given. But your main goal should be self sufficiency. Living without currency. Once again, good luck to all.

The American Freemasonry have been a part of America since shortly after the first colonists arrived in America. They are the current leaders captains of our industries , political parties , church and social leaders … who all answer to the Grand Masonic Lodge in England (Which is Illuminati Controlled)

What some of you don’t realize is that Freemasonry’s Web of Control Deceit has not only poisons the business and political societies of AmeriKa ; but also it’s social clubs like the Elks Clubs , Veterans Clubs , even religious organizations such as church’s and bible groups all across America fall under Freemasonry’s Web of Control!

Freemasonry even crosses Racial Barriers – there even exists Black Negro Freemasonry Chapters called Prince Hall Freemasonry. Prince Hall Free Masonry among Black Negro men began during the War of Independence, when Prince Hall and fourteen other free black men were initiated into Lodge # 441, Irish Constitution, attached to the 38th Regiment of Foot, British Army Garrisoned at Castle Williams (now Fort Independence) Boston Harbor on March 6, 1775.

Secret Societies by selfish poisonous individual greed are driving the once free republic of AmeriKa straight into Global IMF World Bank U.N. Government Carbon Credit Tax Debt Enslavement for every citizen alive and those still to be born of the once proud free United States of America!

Freemasons have by Deceiption brought Communism in Force by DHS Armed JackBoots and Death Drones to once Free Proud America ; Freemason Communism is here to stay by edict of U.N. international law!

@poo … compared to what??? you??? this man gave up his his life , trying to give the monetary control of once free ameriKa ; back the the people – back to the common man!!!

that makes him a hero in my book … he’s a man just like most … with a mans vices … but he tried to do the right thing , a good thing and was killed by his own people for his efforts!!!

just as was malcolm x , martin luther king , bobby kennedy etc etc by our on secret society hidden banker Illuminati government that really runs controls ameriKa ; its was and still is the FREEMASONS SKULL BONES CIA FBI SS!!!

“The very word “secrecy” is repugnant in a free and open society; and we are as a people inherently and historically opposed to secret societies, to secret oaths and secret proceedings. We decided long ago that the dangers of excessive and unwarranted concealment of pertinent facts far outweighed the dangers which are cited to justify it. Even today, there is little value in opposing the threat of a closed society by imitating its arbitrary restrictions. Even today, there is little value in insuring the survival of our nation if our traditions do not survive with it. And there is very grave danger that an announced need for increased security will be seized upon those anxious to expand its meaning to the very limits of official censorship and concealment. That I do not intend to permit to the extent that it is in my control. And no official of my Administration, whether his rank is high or low, civilian or military, should interpret my words here tonight as an excuse to censor the news, to stifle dissent, to cover up our mistakes or to withhold from the press and the public the facts they deserve to know.”

“For we are opposed around the world by a monolithic and ruthless conspiracy that relies on covert means for expanding its sphere of influence–on infiltration instead of invasion, on subversion instead of elections, on intimidation instead of free choice, on guerrillas by night instead of armies by day. It is a system which has conscripted vast human and material resources into the building of a tightly knit, highly efficient machine that combines military, diplomatic, intelligence, economic, scientific and political operations.

Its preparations are concealed, not published. Its mistakes are buried not headlined. Its dissenters are silenced, not praised. No expenditure is questioned, no rumor is printed, no secret is revealed.”

“No President should fear public scrutinity of his program. For from that scrutiny comes understanding; and from that understanding comes support or opposition. And both are necessary. I am not asking your newspapers to support the Administration, but I am asking your help in the tremendous task of informing and alerting the American people. For I have complete confidence in the response and dedication of our citizens whenever they are fully informed.

I not only could not stifle controversy among your readers– I welcome it. This Administration intends to be candid about its errors; for as a wise man once said: “An error does not become a mistake until you refuse to correct it.” We intend to accept full responsibility for our errors; and we expect you to point them out when we miss them.

Without debate, without criticism, no Administration and no country can succeed– and no republic can survive. That is why the Athenian lawmaker Solon decreed it a crime for any citizen to shrink from controversy. And that is why our press was protected by the First (emphasized) Amendment– the only business in America specifically protected by the Constitution– not primarily to amuse and entertain, not to emphasize the trivial and sentimental, not to simply “give the public what it wants”–but to inform, to arouse, to reflect, to state our dangers and our opportunities, to indicate our crises and our choices, to lead, mold educate and sometimes even anger public opinion.

This means greater coverage and analysis of international news– for it is no longer far away and foreign but close at hand and local. It means greater attention to improved understanding of the news as well as improved transmission. And it means, finally, that government at all levels, must meet its obligation to provide you with the fullest possible information outside the narrowest limits of national security…

“And so it is to the printing press–to the recorder of mans deeds, the keeper of his conscience, the courier of his news– that we look for strength and assistance, confident that with your help man will be what he was born to be: free and independent.”

The very word ‘secrecy’ is repugnant in a free and open society; and we are as a people inherently and historically opposed to secret societies, to secret oaths, and to secret proceedings.
John F. Kennedy

“thumbs down!!!” are you frigging kidding me!!! every single infidel lower than goat pus cur’ dawg offspring of a hairy lip big nose uni-brow cross dressing sodomite torah licking zionist israeli back alley tramp streetwalker joooooo who gave me a thumbs down for this quote deserves to be “water boarded” by the infidel zionist ameriKaN fairy boy-lovin’ CIA, you should all have your testicles removed and wear dresses like the pillow biter ameriKan FBI!!! you are tax debt enslaved fools and slaves!!! can you not see that??? my goats and donkey has more sense than you infidel swine eating goyim gentiles ; you all deserve the constant surveillance , invasion of privacy and lifelong back breaking tax debt chains of slavery of the nwo u.n. globalist bankers!!!

Good Lord – vent baby, vent. WWTBD (What would the Budda Do). Probably not get quite so worked up, bad for the karma and all that. (Not to mention the blood pressure). Just sort yourself out with a steady income stream and prepare for the future so you can provide and protect your own. Calm down and focus. Never mind the bloody anti-christ, get a grip and take an inventory and see where your shortcomings are, then take remedial action.

The most important preparation for all is to recognize when the time to bugout has arrived. To be mentally prepared to kill to survive is not as easy as you might think. People I love will have to be left to what comes, to keep the family alive. The food and the water are vital, but the mental ability to function in chaos is even more so.

The story begins at Yale, where three threads of American social history — espionage, drug smuggling and secret societies — intertwine into one.

Elihu Yale was born near Boston, educated in London, and served with the British East India Company, eventually becoming governor of Fort Saint George, Madras, in 1687. He amassed a great fortune from trade and returned to England in 1699. Yale became known as quite a philanthropist; upon receiving a request from the Collegiate School in Connecticut, he sent a donation and a gift of books. After subsequent bequests, Cotton Mather suggested the school be named Yale College, in 1718.

A statue of Nathan Hale stands on Old Campus at Yale University. There is a copy of that statue in front of the CIA’s headquarters in Langley, Virginia. Yet another stands in front of Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts (where George H.W. Bush (’48) went to prep school and joined a secret society at age twelve).

Nathan Hale, along with three other Yale graduates, was a member of the “Culper Ring,” one of America’s first intelligence operations. Established by George Washington, it was successful throughout the Revolutionary War. Nathan was the only operative to be ferreted out by the British, and after speaking his famous regrets, he was hanged in 1776. Ever since the founding of the Republic, the relationship between Yale and the “Intelligence Community” has been unique.

@John W. – Who am I … I am nothing more than a lil’ tiny (freeman patriot constitutionalist american veteran) snowflake sitting atop Mount Everest!!! Very patiently waiting… I am paid by the Knowledge that others read and learn that which I learn in my travels. Nothing more Nothing less , for I am only a lil’ tiny snowflake.

Why the fixation on thumbs???? Please Mac, take them away. WHO CARES if someone gives you a “thumbs down”? Do you really care what others say? Do you only post stuff to get a “thumbs up”? If so, what did you really want to say?

On a serious note, if anyone asked me about prepping I would play dumb, I sure as hell wouldn’t confide in anyone I didn’t feel 100% sure of, hell, you people are the only ones who know I prep.

For those who think in a stereotypical fashion, I look nothing like their ideas of what a prepper should look like, to those of that mindset I am someone who they would never consider has even thought of the possibility of stormy waters ahead. On the odd occasion it has been mentioned to me I have given the blank “you have got to be kidding me stare”

I dare say I am not as advanced in what I have as many of you are, but I am adding weekly to my supplies, not as much as I would like to add, but something, without fail each week, but I still like my nails to look perfect at all times, I love my totally impractical car and I will only wear the sweatpants I have stored in the loft when I REALLY have to, like when it is impossible to get my hands on more suitable attire. I would not consider going into debt to have these ‘”nice” things in my life, but I am really enjoying them whilst I can have them.

I don’t live to prep….I prep so that I can live.

I think there may be more people out there, quietly prepping, than we realise, and I hope this is the case, for every single person that preps in my area, there will be less problems for me post-shtf.

So, when I blame the iPad for typos in the future, you will know the truth….my nails are too long lol

when they ask me i say: bring 200 lbs of food,20 gallons of gas; and five big packs of tp. if you show up with less you don’t get to join the club.rememberthe weapons i got covered. you should see the looks i get lol!make me want to learn how to use my cell phone camera.

@ Burt the Brit. What you say, “I do not live to prep… I prep so that I can live”. This short string of words has so much impact for the individual and the human society as a whole, IF only the non-prepper would take these words to heart. Every person that changes their habits and starts putting away for survival, the better chance that the human race has of surviving a mega worldwide calamity. If no one prepared and say one of the many super volcanoes went off with much more intensity of Yellowstone ever has, which has happened before, the very continuity of the human species would be at grave risk.

Live as though all will be well while preparing for it all to fail. Keep a balanced outlook and if others don’t see the potential dangers, you cannot do a thing about it. Some dangers, such as wild fires, you cannot prep for, anyway and they happen even when the world is going on as usual elsewhere. Floods and earthquakes will take out the preparations of those caught in them. An unknown virus could wipe out most of us in a few weeks.

Even with the destitution in Greece, I’m hearing it is only in the large urban areas and the countyside is doing as well as can be expected. I even read about folks planning *cheap* Greek vacations.

People today flip out if their Internet is down for several hours or their phone dies. Stay away from concentrations of humanity and wait it out.

What other choices are there? Who knows which side will be laughing at the other?

“People today flip out if their Internet is down for several hours or their phone dies.”

I predict many suicides (thousands) the first week without those two and also the ability to masturbate their brain in front of their tv. So many people have lost all contact with reality, have no life whatsoever, and depend totally on the constant dose of this electronic crap to prop them up.

At first my wife “poopoo’d” the longterm supplies i started storing. But over time watching what is happeninf in the world and here in californistan she is convinced. She went out an bought her own colt M4 OPS rifle. We have a group that will meet at the multi acre homesite of a friend. We all bring our food, guns and ammo and we all will stay there for mutual protection.

Dont know if it will come to that but no point in taking a chance and being unprepared.

The whole system is very fragile right now and like the article says..something small could start a chain reaction collapse.

My wife and i will not be statistics…but will be some of the ones around to count the statistics.

I’d love to see an article sometime that focuses on living through a “SHTF” scenario and how those who do weather the storm can hope to bring some sense of normalcy back to the world. When I was younger I loved the Mad Max movies, but I have no desire to live in such a world. I guess that what I’m trying to say is that looking at the world through the eyes of a “Prepper” can be pretty depressing and it would be nice to try and figure out ways to help our niebors rather than look at them all as potential threats.

i kind of tricked a buddy of mine at work into prepping by simply asking if he thought food was going to be more or less exspensive next year. then mentioned if he got a freezer that he could shop the sales for meat. now he’s got a freezer and talking a few of us splitting a cow.
i think if you explain prepping to people in that it makes economic sense its easier to get them started and if the shtf at least they wont be totally screwed

There is a story out there about mutant zombie bikers- i hope, truly hope, that i never run into them. hopefully it never happens, but it will. maybe i have the testicular fortitude to watch as others starve to death in front of me, but i don’t know. good luck to all.

only have a few local family, wouldnt turn em away, dont even talk to em about shtf, they live in lala land with the rest of the country. but guess who will be carrying water from the creek on the property, have septic tank empty it every two years, only need water to flush with, guess who will dig the garden, stand guard duty, wash dishes, they will pull their own or go byby that is all there is to it.

Dont be a victim! Everyone needs to take some personal responsability and not rely on someone else to come and save them. I hope more people wake up and prepare, as I would much rather be surrounded by those that are prepared than those that are not and become desperate like this article describes. A desperate man is a dangerous man. By the way check out http://www.survivaledge.com they have something called a rocket stove which would be great for cooking in a grid down situation and it produces very little smoke. They also have food storage and bulk ammo. Prepare for the worst and hope for the best.

Darkhorse,
We own both, Stove Tec and Eco Zoom rocket stoves.
They are awesome! All you need are tree limbs or thinly split wood. They’re efficient and do a GREAT job! (I’ve even cooked dry beans in a pressure cooker on mine.)

UPDATE: 4 is gone,do you really think you will be notified? take a look at the plume ALREADY in the USA…wake up, radiation is showering the west coast daily…but at least two men can marry before they die of rad. poisoning

I’ve tried to talk to some friends and family about prepping as well, to no avial it seems. I’ve decided to make a small pakage to give to my brother for him to just put in his closet and forget about. Just some small items that would really come in handy in an event. Thats all I can do for now. As far as my parents go, they’re pretty much set, they live on a ranch in Montana my mom inherited from my grandmother when she passed, have always been frugal people, and have always had stores of food and suplys as long as I can remember, as I’m sure being poor missionarys in Alaska for many years when they were younger helped them know that times can get very rough.

An excellent essay that might get wide readership among all those NPs if the author could figure out a way to get pastors of all denominations (not just the Mormons) to hand out copies to their parishioners — and then make the subject of their next sermon all about “prevention and preparedness.”

Of course, I’d imagine a significant number of pastors may be NPs, too — sad to say. I’m sure glad my hubby is on board with prepping and that we have no children or other family members to convince and convert. I sympathize with all of you who are tired of banging your heads against the wall with your own loved ones who are NPs and prefer living by that river “De Nile.”

I know for a fact that the local pastors ARE stressing preparedness. AND since I know our pastor is also in the regional/state leadership and THEY are stressing prepardness the trolls who are voting down things may want to visit their “non mormon” church and ask what is being preached… Keep up the good work mac.. and ignore the new naysayers…

I have met a lot of preppers who will fall victim to those who did not prepare, but have the ability and will to prey upon preppers. One trip to the outhouse, for example, could easily become the last trip anywhere. The smart predator will take out the individual silently then wait with their battle rifle for their family to come looking for them.

Have you not heard some say all they need is a gun and the address of a Mormon?

I cant believe the idiots on this topic alone. 2 people so far gave you thumbs down but you say a lot of good things on here. there are too many kids on here. they will be in for a quick wakeup soon when things get bad and I dont feel sorry for them

I just let it roll off my back. Most people here have never killed anything, let alone have the blood of another person on their hands. I’ve watched more people die violent deaths than I care to recall so survival for me is more than the fantasy football.

I do and I have read your posts on here for over a year, even now I see more idiots putting thumbs down and some dont understand the seriouness of this. they think they are going to be rambos and be invinceable out there. they have to sleep sometime and that is when trouble happens.

I posted a similiar prediction a while ago. They will just get back a half or quarter mile and snipe you off. If they use a silenced sub sonic weapon they could probably clean out an entire neighborhood before anyone had a clue. I believe the guy from Yugoslavia all readt warned about snipers as did Ferfal from Argentina. Let’s all hope that this is not the case if things fall apart.

How about the people housed in the Superdome after Hurricane Katrina? They went 4 days before food was available. Furthermore, once the 50,000 refugees entered the Superdome they were not allowed to leave. They were trapped in sweltering conditions with no fresh water, no food, and overflowing toilets.

That’s ONE example just like you asked for, and recent enough for you to realize it could happen at any time.

Imagine something on a grander scale. (earthquake, power grid failure, fallout from fukushima, etc.) These are all real things that can happen. What are you going to do? Wait for FEMA to show up? See how well that worked out in New Orleans.

fema got to new orleans before it got to those in mississippi and alabama…mississippi folks took care of their own with very little help from fema and that my friends is “fact”. by the way, it was not katrina hurricane that hurt new orleans…it was leaky unmaintained and repaired/rebuilt levies that did that damage…the rest of the damage in new orleans after the levies overflowed was the fault of the people themselves and their local governments and state governor. a very good example of folks wanting that “handout” from the government.

Daisy, I remember watching on TV some of those people “waddling” toward the Superdome. Some had to weigh 500 lbs. and their other leg weighed the same. I can’t even imagine the stench. Four days without food? I know some of them could have lived off body fat till the second coming. Still, you are right. Never depend on government.

Let me tell you a little about Katrina. And I’ll get many red thumbs down for this but…The people in that Superdome during Katrina? …well, a good 85% of them, were free loaders, welfare lifers, good for nothing but living off the government, unbelievably ignorant criminals with little to no education. It is sad to say, but true.

There were rapes and much worse going on within that Superdome…and that’s as far as I’ll go with that. There really wasn’t much tptb could do to help…you can’t help when people don’t want what you’ve got to give. And the ignorance of the local governments was the reason it took so long. They had no clue what to do while trying to save face. indecisiveness.

If you’ve ever disturbed a hornet’s nest and you watch a thousand hornets come out angry and ready to retaliate…that’s what the Katrina events did to New Orleans. To watch it unfold was truly eye opening. These people only wanted whatever the government could give them…the others just stole (looted) what they could. They’re only thought was to take…never to give…never to save…never to help…never to be productive citizens. And the media ATE IT UP! (Look at all the poor people being treated unfairly) – There’s more than meets the eye. Remember this when The SHTF!

Yes, it was tragic…lives were lost…property lost…everything people owned from birth; gone. Life changing.

But, one thing for certain; the ones that were self-sufficient and resourceful were the ones saving the lives of others and working to build their lives back. These people are alive and healthy with new lives today.

And yes, it was the levee failures, not the storm itself, that ravaged New Orleans. Thanks to the Army Corps of Engineers that built the faulty structures many years ago.

kev wrote, “NAME one event where a westernised country could not feed their citizens”

Ah-hem, countries don’t feed anybody, individuals do via the free market (or the less-than-free market, or the black market).
Your statement reads as if citizens were pets or something and goods and produce were somehow magically made to appear at the push of a button by the great Oz.

Seeing as how the unitedstate is getting to be more like the old Soviet Union perhaps you should look there for the potential disruptions to commerce and trade and all the consequences that go along with a command and control economy? Start at about 1980 and work your way forward. Maybe check out Yugoslavia and a few others while you’re at it.

Also, consider the implications of a significant number of farmers retiring with no one with experience to replace them.

Seems to me you likely have no understanding of the economic condition of most western governments and what that means. Does the term ‘kicking the can’ have any meaning for you? Ever play the card game Old Maid?

“… the economy is being managed at the top by people who are not reliable. It is being run by Congress, the executive bureaucracy, and the Federal Reserve System. It is being run by men who share the views of Keynes, namely, that the gold standard is a barbarous relic and that politicians and bureaucrats and central bankers are the people who should set policies under which companies become profitable.

Men who shared these economic views – deficits, regulation, and fiat money – ran Austria in 1939. They had been running Germany since 1933. Some of us see that the present economic system cannot be trusted.” …

Wow… you should read about Holland during world war 11 or Sweden during the starving years, or Ireland… it is easy to say 1980 -2012 with modern just in time food delivery… but lots of countries had ports over the last 100 years and had food issues… and starved… russia, cambodia, china, large part of africa. Perhaps the way to phrase it is “no country in the history of the worlhas ever fed its population during a time of collaspe ?” Being prudent just makes sense… and is easy.

We have more people now more than ever. Total collapse would over-strain the system and lead to a situation where you could only count on yourself. People also underestimate the evil a human being is capable of. In a collapse you also have psychos to worry about who will have no reason to fear the law… and they won’t be primarily after your food/water. Unchecked depravity begets further depravity.

Just for starters during the last depression LostAngeles was mostly rural with a large farming presence. The city itself was small and fishing was still very good as a backup. Now you have to drive over a hundred miles just to get out of LA and the kind of people now living there bear no resemblence to those of the 1930s. This description fits most large US cities as to a then and now.

The parents in Greece that are forced to hand their kids into the orphanages in the hope that they may be fed? Each and every day desperate parents are driven to this Kevin.

That’s an EU nation and as the cradle of democracy should be recognised for the Canary in the coalmine that it is for all of us.

You think foodbank lines are a joyous experience? That’s the start of a very slippery slope for many, and foodbanks may not be there forever dependent as they are on the ability of the affluent to donate. If the affluent no longer have anything to spare?

Kev, ANY event that affects transportation or crop production will negatively affect a country’s food supply. Unknowingly, you just name countries that get large quantities of food imported from the US.

“United States exports were worth 186.8 Billion USD in March of 2012. United States is the most significant nation in the world when it comes to international trade. For decades, it has led the world in imports while simultaneously remaining as one of the top three exporters of the world. Main exports are: machinery and equipment, industrial supplies, non-auto consumer goods, motor vehicles and parts, aircraft and parts, food, feed and beverages. Main export partners are: Canada, European Union, Mexico, China and Japan.” Source at tradingeconomics dot com

So what happens when grocery store shelves aren’t stocked anymore? And nobody is working because the entire power grid went down? Millions will die. Anybody with a brain should be able to see it coming.

There are many, many things you can prepare for. The unknown is what is truly frightening. You cannot even predict how your family members will react. Until people are actually living it, it is impossible to know. Preppers with babies, toddlers, or small children how will you keep them calm? Just the stress of constant vigil will be enough to send us over the edge. Dog lovers how will you keep from having the dog give away your hiding places? The hills have eyes! How will a wife or husband react if a mom or dad show up or both sets of parents? I find it very hard to believe we would be able to turn them away and tell them fend for themselves.

There’s an article on line (may be it was even here) called: I Am Your Worse Nightmare. I details how someone or a group of people will watch you and your family for just the right opportunity to strike.

The book ONE SECOND AFTER really gave me a clearer picture of what could happen. Cities and towns roping themselves off in an effort to keep people from coming in. Gangs on motorcycles or anything else that can be driven burning and razing everything it their path. Food pretty much gone.

I prepare because I don’t want to be someone fighting for scraps. I have tried to get friends and family to prepare,as the article suggests, but stopped about a year ago. I realized I would become the target when things get bad. We are definitely living in interesting times and hope we make it out on the other side.

I have mixed emotions aboout this article…how about you guys?? I mean it makes me sooovery sad for those who choose to spend their last hundred on flowers, but makes me sooooo happy that I am good for years. I found a wash board today!!!!
I am soooo prepped…I got 4 more gallons of vinegar today(2.20 each) and 2 more gallons of cooking fuel($9 each) for my Coleman camper cooker.
May God have mercy on the children of those irresponsible parents turning their attention away from what’s important.
Rant over.

kimintn…I have been thinking towards that too…but I did get two orange tubs at TSC for a good price ($13)…the metal tubs yesterday at Uncle Lees were $27 ..(gasp) so I am okay with orange tubs for cleaning/rinsing…
I am a Tn girl of 57 years…then moved to Ky.
Hello!!kimintn

I like the idiots on here that gave me thumbs down, more than thumbs up and its all truth. doesnt bother me but shows that there are a lot of abysmals on here. Im not going to say my profession and my spelling sucks but I know a thing or 2 about war. Some of you younger people need to grow up and take this serious. you dont understand this article if you gave me thumbs down. I cant help you, only you can and your family but if you are not prepared you are going to be behind the loop and disorientated and not do so well. I wish everyone well but some of you I dont.

The Southern Poverty Law Center must have discovered this site, given the number of thumbs down on inoffensive posts. To them, preppers are terrorists. Never could understand why the Homies and FBI suck up to them.

@walt
you got that right, when people come around me begging for food my first thought will be that they were probably the dumbasses that gave me thumbs down on my post, sorry they should have prepped now all they are getting is lead.

I don’t think it is young people giving all the thumbs down; it is one person. I have two theories: the individual is a mongoloid whose chaperone happens to be away taking a dump, or, a sociopath experiencing inadequacy; intellectually, morally and sexually. In a society where size matters, a 3″ doesn’t cut it.

this is to all ye preppers. if you live in a neighborhood and you think preping is gonna do any good think again, you will not be able to stay where you are at! that is why prepping entails much more- learning to survive. go hike the appalachian trail and then talk to me about prepping. sure you might ge tby a few weeks in the case of a power outage but i dont think anyone on this site is talking about mild events. you will need more skill than supplies.what happens when a skilled person shows up and takes youre supplies? i think we should all be thinking location where the hell are we gonna go? any bright ideas? im just hitting the woods once its on like red dawn.

well the wild critters will get a good meal…
Even the indians lived in villages and kept supplies for the winter and hard times ahead. They could live off the land but were “SMART” and prepared for the worst, had preperations AND grew crops, stayed stationary (mostly moved to hunt) but had winter and summer “PERMANENT” LOCATIONS.

Skills will help keep you alive but being realistic- having preps ready, and using common sense will get you through this better than any “run to the hills and live off the land fantasy”. Try it for a month and get back to us… BTDT it SUCKS… which is why we prepare.

Hey Stoner, Okay so you’re a prepper-virgin or a non-believer. Your statements gave you away. How about I clarify a few things?

I am a multi-skilled person who is living a life of self-reliance as best as possible in today’s world. I can assure you that I have more important chores to do every day than plotting to plunder others. In fact, that thought never even entered my mind. My home IS my castle — get it? So for someone like me to do as you believe, to show up somewhere to take/steal someone else’s supplies, would mean that I am not able to function on my own, nor am I self-reliant. Not to mention the fact that stealing is morally wrong. And illegal.

Your suggestions do suggest that YOU are unprepared and unskilled. I will hazard a guess that you’ve not thought through the numerous obstacles when faced with a major event or the slow collapse of our Nation. But since you’re hear, I believe you must see that the system is not working well for many people and that things are going topsy-tervy. Personally, I believe that the US is are already IN TEOTWAWKI (the end of the world as we know it), so before it gets worse and horrible, think about preparing yourself for a very different outlook on living (and on life, in general). It’s the least you can do because when you get serious about preparing for the rest of your life, you will change your mindset and that will reform your lifestyle.

Someone who has a good set of survival skills would never ask the question that you did: “I think we should all be thinking location where the hell are we gonna go?” I am betting you are in an urban setting and you already DO feel trapped. If so, get out while you can. Being trapped never has a good outcome. Adjust now because an adjustment later, like when it’s too late, will be much worse than anything you might have to deal with now.

Also, making a statement like “hitting the woods once its on like red dawn” is very naive. Think of that last-minute adjustment I just mentioned — your ability to survive is near 0% unless you have survival skills and can live in a primitive manner while also protecting yourself from the hoards of others who seem to think they’ll make it on foraging when they haven’t even spent a weekend foraging food, much less the rest of their lives. The one thing you do NOT want to do is trek off somewhere without good primitive skills that have been learned and experienced. All this would do is trap you in a no-win scenario. If you WANT to trek off into the wilderness, learn how to life in the wilderness while you have a safety net to return to. In other words, learn survival skills. (And I, for one, live near the AT and have hike many miles, even in the dead of Winter in 2-foot snow….we’re not all wannabe people reading here). Stoner, there’s more to it than being high while sporting hides for clothing and dreadlocks.

Yeah, that’ll go over real well with 83 year old granny and grandpa..or the couple with 3 toddlers under 4…get real.
I and dh are staying here.
What in the name of prepping did I store all this food and supplies for???

One other thing and I’ll assume it’s topic related..my nieghbor really gets my goat with her negativity…all my food stored..it’ll rot!
all my water in the 30 gallon drums..it’ll spoil!
my Berkey…what happens when the filter is bad!
my stored gas..stabil isn’t gonna keep it forever!
Types like her may as well just lie down and take the damn suicide pill.
GEEZE!!!

Right, it won’t. Use 5-gal cans, rotate, dump a can in your tank and refill it with fresh (no ethanol of course), treat again, mark date on a wire tag so you know what’s oldest. Costly, but much better than ever having to try to run the chain saw or tiller on bad gas. BTW I’m fond of Seafoam for treatment.

Repectfully and with the greatest admiration for the intent but not the reasoning for the above article.

I think the article’s author is mistaken.

The liberal elite no doubt plan on tapping into the 4.5 million rounds of .40 cal and billions of MREs being sold to the Governmnet.

The rest of the sheeple by an large are liberal sacks of crap or mindless.

I do not care one whit for some moron who spends his Sundays drinking Beer or Wine and posturing while vicariously experiencing some bizzare perversion of “manhood” by “whoop whooping” for his favorite sports teams.

By and large they also live in large cities. They will eat each other in short order. The broods from Welfare Queens will be a danger but only for a short time. They will simply not survive.. Trying to survive by stealing even in large gangs.. will be a proffesion of diminishing returns. Remember for the crimminals there will be even fewer medical support mechanisims than for yourself.

All while our folks who survive will increasing be the most capable and deadly and they will have learned a measure of calculated and intelligent ruthlessness towards their enemies.

The scum whom you are bemoaning with regards to their lack of awareness of preparedness are also the kinds of folks who smirk and laugh as they lie, cheat and steal from one another.

They are “Hip Slick and Cool” who soon enough by the hands of others like them will be cool to the touch in short order after TEOTWAWKI starts.

So bottom line do not bemoan their stupidity.. You are not going to change it.. Help those who will accept your help.. make preperations to work with them and survive..

The rest.. The best you can do is layup as many goods (in disparate locations) so that you might be able to pull a few innocents and Angels Unaware from the Grim Reapers grasp.. For the rest…nothing.

450 million .40S&W not 4.5 million and almost 200 million .223/5.56N. or enough for the goobermint barney’s to miss alot. If the LAPD miss the average criminal over 40 times and they are supposed to practice, how much missing are the rest of the boob patrol going to do.
It’s not the bullet with my name on it I’m worried about…. the ones addressed to “Whom it may concern” that worry me.

same here, but I dont care, it is her that will complain the most when the t.p. is gone and no food or snacks. im just saving myself from another hell later on, keep on prepping, she will realize it when the time comes.

…hold up right there! Seems like I recall 3-4 months ago, you unequivocally shouted to all here…that you were a woman/female of prom-queen/beauty-queen caliber, numerous times btw….& now (suddenly)…you have a wife???

1. Derivitives bubble…this will bring down the global ecompny.
2. Dollar collapse… soon Uncle Sam can’t pay the interest…time to crash the dollar.
3. Planned pandemic….to cull the human population.
4. Nationalization of ira and 401k. The pandemic will make it easier to not have to pay all the dead boomers.

Our country sure has gone down hill…
Obama in office, a lezbo at the top and our pan, M. Waters.

After it all crashes, the middle aged white guys will have to step in and rebuild it all back up . I predict the next wave of empowerment for the white male, who is sick of all the pussy NWO, affirmative action crap. We’ll start businesses and run them well.

I know we are screwed because all the conservatives raising hell about that facist muslim democrat in office and the best they could do, the most conservative guy they could find was Mitt?
That is how I know we are screwed.

Yup, the next big thing will be the govt taking over everyone’s 401K and retirement. Give it about 18 months,then you’ll see the people go up in arms. It’s already in the works, and if Obuma gets re-elected it’s a done deal.

My wife an I prep. Not just in the normal sense, but as a life style. Twenty one years ago, we bought a small neglected farm. We put in an orchard, vineyard, bought beef cattle and my wife got three horses. We worked like dogs making a home and the mortgage. As I see it, when things go south, we will have three enemies. Friends and family who refused to prep, eventually, thugs from town and government thugs. The government thugs will want to confiscate our food resources to feed the elite. (There is already an executive order allowing them to do this, along with our tractor and machinery.) I have a fast and firm rule: nothing on this property is worth your life! As the article states:”For every action there is a reaction”. Nuff said.

its AIPAC , the stalwarts of the repukelican party, and barack obamas personal trolls who are hijacking the thread and giving thumbs down guys…. lets all go to their pathetic chat website and really tell them!

i’d say someone has hacked shtfplan by the number of neg thumb downs hitting everyone or someone is tricking the site register with multiple ip addresses mac addresses cookie deletions so they appear as a new poster giving them the ability to multiple thumbs folks! very labor intensive!

Gunsmith, I have been MIA in the comments here due to intently “hound-dogging” a SCENT I picked up about 5 weeks ago. Literally spending every spare moment of “net time” following this “scent”.

Still trying to “connect all the dots” into a rational understanding and potential articulation. I am convinced “all of the dots” are connected, just not sure how some of them “fit in” yet.

The standard issue military sidearm is 9mm, not .40 with talon hollowpoints. I realize that LEO’S are now .40 as a majority. But this is “where” something starts to stink. Why advertise the “fact” that the government has ordered 450 million plus rounds of some of the “nastiest” hollowpoint ammo available? Indications appear to me that there is more than a little Psyop being intentionally distributed here. Mis-direction?

Actually, that “dot” is relatively minor compared to some of the “others” with respect to Chicago this month, and London next month. Both have been unmistakenly “telegraphed” as potential game changers. THEY do seem to enjoy “telling” US what THEY intend to do…in some not so subtle ways. Then again, “both” could also be mis-direction away from the “real party” location.

One thing I have become sure of…”the party” is about to begin, IMO. Stay sharp.

@yental: I had to go back and look for it but found an interesting theory about how tptb want people to connect dots and why they telegraph their actions. He referrs to it as trama mind control. Here is the link to it.

Thanks Daisy. Keep thinking “continuity of agenda” aka, Clinton “got” Oklahoma City, Bush “got” 9/11 (both when their respective poll numbers were in the outhouse)and now it is Obama’s turn. But with the addititonal “twist” of a false flag assassination attempt too. IMO, that little “secret service prostitution sting” in Colombia served to clear out some undesirables from “the plan”.

I think we have a double-whammy coming with this current “puppet”. Clinton-Bush-Obama…where is the difference in the results of “different agendas”?

The Left/Right paradigm has been fully exposed as ONE. The NEW WORLD ORDER PARADIGM. Take care.

…additional sleuthing revealed that said nuke possesses a crude “dial a yield” capability, w/ a min of ~100kt to a max of 500kt…hence, it could provide a spectacular fireworks display to any false flag event on the global stage!

…an additional benefit would be, once the scientific analysis/radiological forensics are completed, it would allow various govt agencies to announce w/ certainty…that the device was of “Russian” origin…thus marginalizing and/or checkmating Russia in the court of world opinion.
…call it NWO PSYOPs at its finest!

…of course, this is basically conjecture at this point. But, referencing yet another missing nuke(this one, an American weapon)…which disappeared from the flightline @ Barksdale AFB after a B-52 from Minot AFB landed carrying six (according to the original manifest)…only five were accounted for!!!

…conveniently, the American nuke possessed a very flexible “dial a blast coefficient/yield capability”! Plus, many Air Force personnel associated w/ this incident have suffered odd/untimely deaths!!!
…see link below…

@ Gunsmith, connect the dolphin class German sub with a Russian supplied “dial-a-hydrogen-nuke” and highly trained Israeli “crew” that “vanished” while being monitored by multiple sophisticated methods…and enjoy PART of the “scent”.

An “earlier” Scandinavian “mishap” invovling the “latest” American made missile defense (discovered in a totally useless “state of packaging”)is also at “play” in the “stink”. Tie these two together brother, and you will be well ahead of me!!! Frankly, I believe the “Scandinavian mishap” was a “dud” that was well packaged to impress globally! Someone at the “detonation switch” must have been sleeping/drinking/etc.

The “missing minot nuke”…soon to be found within 90 miles of Chicago. Perhaps “found” will be considered an understatement. “Party-time” will never have the same connotation again. Of course, this is all strictly paranoid speculation. But if WE continue to “openly speculate” enough…perhaps “the agenda” will be canceled or delayed. Then again, I COULD well be completely CRAZY. I for one, certainly hope so.

@ Daisy, the time is approaching in which I may well honor your request. But seriously consider this: Be very, very, VERY careful what you wish for…you just might get it. I ignored a similar “caution” many years ago. Understand that what YOU and the REGULARS do here consistently…does not go unseen or unnoticed by THOSE that “hold the keys” today. Those KEYS are OURS…and we will ultimately retrieve them. Keep-on keepin-on sister!!!!! You, and many HERE, underestimate the value of any/all contributions.

Elaborate and eloquent is irrelevant…simple and direct will suffice very well.

Just a suggestion but, have people that don’t see what is coming watch the movie “Contagion”. I find it disturbing that a fictional hollywood production with Matt damon has more credibility than real sources but that is the world we live in.

Ahab- No dissrespect but I had to laugh earlier today. I read an exchange between you and southern boy where you explained how you got your handle. I honestly would have never thought “moby dick”. I thought you were a ray stevens fan. I guess I can thank public schooling for my litterary knowledge.

Finally I think when this all shakes out and we look back on this ride with all the twists in the road we all will compare what we thought we would need that collected dust and the things we didn’t think would get much use that ended up being a lifeline. The important thing will be that individually we were proactive. I cannot imagine the monumental task it would be for someone to go through an event with nothing in a supply closet.

Ok, I saw the movie and I have to say the story had credibility but (this is a spoiler so if you haven’t seen it sorry.) What are the honest odds of patient zeros spouse being immune come on. That story just doesn’t click with me.

Myself I don’t think the worst case is likely. But lets look at the Math if THSHTF REALLY BAD. 300 MM people start shooting at each other. People either live or DIE. First go 150MM dead; 150MM survivors; 2ed round 75MM survivors, then 38MM, then 19MM, then 9 Million survivors. At fifth round you only have 9 million people in the United States. The country is nearly empty and the average survivor has only had to deal with 5 people. large numbers of people raiding around the country is NOT possible for even a few days. Months of large scale warfare in a GRID DOWN situation is not possible. Large long term warfare is not possible with out outside help

Now consider all the dogs (pets released) in your example. Dogs packs will become a huge concern. The dogs will happily survive on the dead, their numbers will increase, AND they will get used to feasting on their once masters. What could be better then a rotting human body to feed their pups? Oh yeah, fresh meat.

Sorry but NO. No dogs will last long enough to have pups unless a person is looking after them. They will be our food. Why in the world would anyone attack an armed human when Fido is running around lose? During hundreds of famines world wide fido has been eaten. Second just ow long do you think even a dog can eat unrefrigerated meat? in warm weather nor even a week. Besides ants and rodents, crows will clean up much faster. Look for Mat Brady Photos of Civil war battlefields. Studies have shown dogs no longer have the skills to live without people.

Sound like some of the equations we used to figure out the effects of an EMP on the population. We figured 10 days before the “real trouble” started once people realized that there was never going to be a return to normal life/government rule again.
10 days before the effects of no food, little water, sanitation, and no help coming in really hits people. Then comes the mass histeria, no medications, cannibalism, and about 30 days of people killing each other off for a can of spam.
It only gets worse from there….
Rule of thumb, figure out how many people live within 30 miles of you and have half that many rounds of ammunition as a good starting point. (or enough reloading equipment and supplies to make 2X as much).

That was the starting point… not the maximum. There is no max other than what the floor will hold, then break it up into weight that can be loaded or put on concrete flooring. You can NEVER have enough ammunition. Even if for trade to TRUSTED PEOPLE, hunting or target practice, but in worse times it will be handed down to your children and grandchildren.
Then again there are a LOT of O-Bozo Zombies that have massive reserves of flab that will take several rounds to get to anything vital (ever see the welfare line or many of those who have the EBT/SNAP card, not being racist or nothing but there are way too many people of multiple races who need to lay off the junk food and start eating right, quit with the twinkies, pizza, nuke-em foods, and potato chips)

Remember At the end of a crop year the world only has about 6 weeks of food, If people do not have a stockpile raiding other people who also don’t is no gain. Wild game is a joke for 99% of the people, With no significant stocks of food in the big cities it’s all over in 10 days , plus the amount of time it takes to starve, If it happens it will be horrible, but short.

I live 60 miles north of Gulfport MS, I was not prepared for Hurricane Katrina. We were without power for 22 days, if it were not for the national guard distributing MRE’s we would have gone hungry. I slept on our front porch with my gun lying on my chest, because of the threat of crime. That was a Terrible time in our lives. Today my wife and family are prepared, if God gives me strength, I will continue to prepare. Some of my friends that went through the same thing we did will not prepare, I find it amazing. I do have faith, that God will help me as he helped Noah build the ark, and Joseph prepare for 7 years of famine. Love y’all and God bless

wow, my sympathies, but at least things got better right? I was always curious as to how people in that situation survived, can you elaborate/expand on it all? maybe the board might learn a thing or two (there’s always something to learn from someone else’s experiences).

Mike, some people will just never “get it”. Kudos to you for wising up! Your story is important!!! Keep telling it to everyone even if they don’t listen. The subconscious is a powerful force. It is what our government and industry have used to turn the population into the kind of people that don’t think it will ever happen here.

Impress upon people that they don’t have to have an armory and a ton of food. 4 extra jars of peanut butter, a 20lb bag of rice and 10 extra cans of corned beef hash is a start.

Once they start, it will *INFECT*THEM* and they will prep until they feel safe. Once you feel safe, you start moving things around to fit more situations.

Remember, its not how much you prep but that you do! Some may choose to have a shotgun and a bag of rice and thats it. Thats fine! I see obvious holes, but, at least they’ve got something. Those that refuse to do ANYTHING scare me.

There has never been a world-wide shortage of food. The real problem has always been moving the food to where it is needed, and/or the population being able to pay for the needed food. So when SHTF, it is not a shortage of food, but the inability to get it moved to where it is needed. Somewhere in Nebraska, or Kanas there will be a farm with tons of grain, but no fuel, or no infrastructure to get it to the mills to be processed. In the Global market we have now the crop year continues year round. When the harvest is finished in Nebraska, the planting season is going strong in Brazil. Moving the crops after SHTF will be the challenge, since as you point out no one is really storing commodities (countries or individuals).

Once upon a time it was the law that a three year supply of food be available for every man, woman and child in the U.S.A. Politicians decided, with a big push from bankers and exporters, that the program was too expensive. Today, the politicians have well stocked underground cities, but only for themselves. No such arrangements for the unwashed masses. I want to survive, not just for the sake of living, but for revenge. So, I hope you are right. I hope the SHTF is short lived.

I lived 112 miles outside of LA for 25 years. You can watch the interstate, thousands of truckloads of stuff go there every day, the Gov says average food now moves 1600 miles from where it is produced to where it is used. The trucks and railroads stop, LA is out of food in 3-5 days. Also out of gas and water, people cannot get out. 10X as any people as New O and only 2 roads that don’t go to other million people cities. Look at NY or any of the other major cities, that’s why they canceled Civil Defence, You cannot empty the major cities We have spent years and Billions setting up their infrastructure to be able to support them it’s impossible to move out.

To add to Swift’s post…I read that the govt was mandated to have 3 days of grain for EVERY household in this nation for any and all national disasters:
1) they don’t
2) what is 3 days of grain in terms of longevity
3) what the heck do I do with grain with no grinder
4) I just read this about 6 months ago!!!!

THE THUMB DOWN SHEEPEL WILL WANT TO HAVE YOUR PRECIOUS METAL ( YOU KNOW LEAD AND COPPER ). ANYONE WHO THINKS THINGS AREN’T GOING DOWN THE TUBE ARE CRAZY THEY ARE LIVING IN THEIR HOLLYWOOD WORLD. DON’T PAY THEM ANY MIND, JUST PREP AND WHEN THEY WANT SOME GIVE IT TO THEM, SOME OF THE PRECIOUS METAL TO CHEW ON.

Well Daisy, you fit right in to his set of “Crazy” friends don’t you?
Hell, you love nothing better to jump into things that don’t concern you, you do it every time. So shut up and stay out of it! The guys a pain and needs help, while you can go back reading your People Magazine and collecting your welfare checks.

Lots of good comments. No matter what your plans are, each person better figure out who is going to be allowed in their “group” in advance of a collapse. Once a SHTF situation happens, a kind heart might get you killed.
I personally don’t talk to anyone about prepping anymore. I don’t want strangers remembering that I might have told them I had “stuff”. I’ve even had some idiots say they’ll take their guns and take what they want. I guess they forgot about the prepper having weapons to defend themselves.
My point being–make your mind up NOW, not after the fact, who is going to be in your “group” good luck.

EVACUEE=REFUGEE. Those wo are untrained, unarmed and unorepared will e refugees, criminals or targets. Those who have a little sense about them will link up with friends family etc and the rest will have a very hard time. Many of them will die in very bad fashion. Many will be taken to camps as refugees or political dissidents. What is about transpire in our country will be the most savage since the first revolution and will make the civil war look like a weekend campout.

I as active duty military (considering the name a no brainer, have wanted to do this, especially for my family an d newborn daughter. My question to the community is does the fact I’m active duty affect my preps? (I.E. PCS’ing means constant moving and no time to actually set up protective measures.)

Yes, good and bad. Military has a lot of respect in US. Army is not stupid, I expect it to look after it’s own. To many things I don’t know about your condition, MOS, location etc to make cogent comments. However, if you could buy something like a horse trailer and get it on base in a safe location. If you are in country,a lot of preps could be made; some of the large bases have huge areas no one is ever in.

My dh is active duty also, but that hasn’t stopped us from, or changed, the type of preps we set aside. And as long as you don’t go over your weight limit for the PCS, then it’s all good. If it came down to weight, I will leave behind other items and make sure to keep all prep items.
My only concern is our long term food supply being stored(heat exposure) during the move and having to move to a “gun unfriendly” state.
If anyone else has experience with this, sure would appreciate the input.

@Paranoid and Sunny Bear, thanks for the input. It’s good to know that my only concern (long term food supply), isn’t just myself, however like many people living in urban areas, that also falls into my AO, Fort Sam Houston’s smack dab in the middle of downtown San Antonio, and I live in apartments near there, in regards to the horse trailer, I’d need to get an entirely new vehicle for that on a soldier’s salary (Might need to deploy for a decent chunk of change for all that).

I watched the “Prepper Show” once on TV and was really disappointed when the subject’s concerns and efforts weren’t appreciated. Here is a guy who just wanted to do his trucking job and get supplies distributed and provide for himself and others AFTER the shtf because of a possible “monetary collapse”. He is ready to risk hijacking, life and limb no matter how dangerous, to distribute & provide what people need, like food. I believe he was a retired cop, if I remember correctly. It sounds to me like he might have been a good cop & a good man.

In the end, the show’s producers brushed his concerns of possible monetary calamity aside without a second word or thought.
The producers didn’t even have the courage of heart to recognize that guy was a hero! They didnt have the moral strength to recognize a good deed because of their own simple denial. Their own reasoning had already been hijacked and stopped! Surely this program sounds more like it has an agenda, than a hunger for possible answers. No money problems in today’s world, move along now, folks.

This is an astounding feature of human nature, that must be the result of brainwashing or programming. No need to respect or appreciate anybody for trying to provide for themselves or others, no matter what happens. Just be disrespectful and judge them foolishly. What profound arrogance and lack of wisdom!

And to think that everyone who would condemn this man for his efforts will probably fail to provide for themselves and their own families is a true human TRAGEDY!

This could only happen through propaganda, because human beings have a survival instinct in every cell of their bodies. Many of us allow ourselves to trust authorities who have always failed to provide (even the truth) for us, as well as they have for themselves.

The American Freemasonry have been a part of America since shortly after the first colonists arrived in America. They are the current leaders captains of our industries , political parties , church and social leaders … who all answer to the Grand Masonic Lodge in England (Which is Illuminati Controlled)

What some of you don’t realize is that Freemasonry’s Web of Control Deceit has not only poisons the business and political societies of AmeriKa ; but also it’s social clubs like the Elks Clubs , Veterans Clubs , even religious organizations such as church’s and bible groups all across America fall under Freemasonry’s Web of Control!

Freemasonry even crosses Racial Barriers – there even exists Black Negro Freemasonry Chapters called Prince Hall Freemasonry. Prince Hall Free Masonry among Black Negro men began during the War of Independence, when Prince Hall and fourteen other free black men were initiated into Lodge # 441, Irish Constitution, attached to the 38th Regiment of Foot, British Army Garrisoned at Castle Williams (now Fort Independence) Boston Harbor on March 6, 1775.

Secret Societies by selfish poisonous individual greed are driving the once free republic of AmeriKa straight into Global IMF World Bank U.N. Government Carbon Credit Tax Debt Enslavement for every citizen alive and those still to be born of the once proud free United States of America!

Freemasons have by Deceiption brought Communism in Force by DHS Armed JackBoots and Death Drones to once Free Proud America ; Freemason Communism is here to stay by edict of U.N. international law!

So there you are. Telling the truth can be extremely hazardous to your health. Not just in this age but in all ages. It’s interesting to note that in Dallas near Dealey Plaza where all this took place with the three intersections of the bypass forming a form of a triad – the trident, a pyramid you might say. Quite near there the local freemasons erected a monument to Kennedy’s death really and it’s up to you to decide if that was in memory of him or a boast to the high capstone boys, you see, to their total dominance because they built an obelisk inside a rotunda and on top of the obelisk they have a stone form of the fire coming out of the end of the obelisk, the fire. And down below it there’s a pool, just like at Washington’s Memorial, there’s always the fire symbol, the phallic symbol – that’s fire, spirit, energy, the driving force – and it’s reflected in the water, the female, the feminine and so they put a pool there too at Dallas to commemorate their victory, I suppose, showing their total domination of heaven and earth. That’s quite a boast for them to make, but that is the meaning behind the phallic symbol towering over its reflection in the water. The spirit and the earth, you see, heaven and earth.

…yes, but right at this moment it’s an “IF” to most people. IF it happens is what they see and understand, not WHEN. they don’t, won’t or can’t se the bigger picture. they have to discover this most times on their own. so be it, let them be. ((can’t save everyone, why would you want to?))

There is some useful insight by ferfal (ferfal.blogspot.com) in his book, “Surviving the Economic Collapse”, regarding staying in a metro area vs. bugging out to the proverbial rural place. Argentina was “looted from the top”, just like us, but something like 11 years ago, so there’s value in learning from their experience. Might change your mind about metro vs. rural. Might not. But I think it’s worth reading his book. Some useful stuff on his blog site, too.

There is a huge difference between the American rural areas and those in Argentina.

In Argentina, they have huge, huge tracts of GMO soybeans for export, with tiny poor towns of indigenes scattered here and there surrounded by nothing but flat fields of beans. Their catle are also range-fed and mainly for export. As a kleptocracy, Argentina does not waste a dime on anything other than the major cities and even then, they concentrate security in the wealthy and the tourist areas. They protect those areas for the Central Government, not for the people.

The history of Argentina is evident in the way homes are constructed. Most have security walls. Many are built within those walls around an interior open space, giving them 2 layers of security. The have lived under all sorts of corruption that makes ours look innocent. They do not necessarily trust banks, either. They are like us in that they did have a middle class of businesspeople, but not so many private farmers.

Contrast that to rural America. Our rural area is owned by thousands of individuals. You can, at least East of the Mississippi, find a village or small town every 5-10 miles. The dwellings and outbuildings on farms are 1/4 mile to a mile apart. People are very inter-related, everyone has guns, most folks fish, garden,have cash reserves and skills that are needed just to keep their property maintained. They are not disadvantaged peasants.

American rural security forces are under the most powerful elected officials in the country: County Sheriffs, who live locally and know what is going on in their territory. There are many churches, which are support communities. We may mind our own business, as a rule, but everyone knows everyone else, at least from the vantage of who is trustworthy and who may have actual needs due to illness or age. We are all subject to flood, fire, tornado, hurricanes, quakes, depending on geography and we have dealt with them repeatedly. Our Emergency Response groups are experienced, trained local volunteers.

In America, the wealthy may live 2 blocks from welfare housing or abandoned areas. They have hired private security, many of whom are armed only with mace or tasers and a cell phone. There is absolutely no reason for TPTB to stay in those areas. They all have multiple homes, some of them in rural vacation spots. Some have already left, not only the cities, but the country.

Americans have a long history of self-organizing and our pioneers were still active just 120 years ago. We normally respond to disaster by simply rolling up our sleeves and gittin’ ‘er done. We do not sit around and wait for the Federal forces and most of us do not think our military responders are thieves and sadists, as they really are in many other countries. They are our family, neighbors and friends. Many of our population are former military, with all the training that entails.

Ferfal, for example, made many errors in his own preps. He had rental property in Spain and caches of Euros. Think about the value of those. He admitted to not storing enough food. He ended up in Ireland, which might not be a bad choice, actually, but it was not his original plan. And just for everyone’s awareness, I know someone who picked up a vicious ransom-ware at that site, requiring a new hard drive, so be very careful. That person had top level paid security programs and the virus just inserted itself into the security program.

America is unique. We need to understand our own country and our own situation, because it is likely not going to be similar to that of anyone else.

In other ways, the remoteness of some rural American places makes it much like what Ferfal describes happening to those who lived in the countryside.
He has a pretty good bit from an arcitectural perspective about how civilization came about that’s worth reading.

BlueH2O wrote, “American rural security forces are under the most powerful elected officials in the country”

Uh, and what happens when they get hungry and their paychecks don’t buy anything? That ‘powerful’ part might play a role?

BlueH2O wrote, “most of us do not think our military responders are thieves and sadists”

How do you now this?

I think you missed a major point of Ferfal’s, the guy robbing you is often times better dressed than you or is someone close to you which you would Never expect to be the one.

BlueH2O wrote, “Many of our population are former military”

That could be a bad thing.

America was unique, and there’s Nothing new under the Sun.

Also, you seem kind of like you’re on a hatchet job, vicious ransom-ware? Jeeze, that could be anywhere.

Please don’t forget the importance of building tools and adhesives. If you must SIP (bug in) for an extended period, you will need a way to repurpose household items for maximum benefit. Example DIY items: rain catches, splints, spear tips, glass reenforcement, etc. Crazy glue will be very valuable.

I think the problem many people have is that the task seems so overwhelming at first. It’s a lot of work when you really get into it and most have no idea where or how to start. Plus, I am guessing that some are like me when I first started looking down this path and couldn’t handle another stressor (because let’s face it, prepping can be stressful when you start reading too much negative news all the time). It took me about 6 months from when I first started thinking about it while watching Glenn Beck every night until I actually got started.

My first preps were modest, some rice and ramen, but it got me started. I now have enough food for about a month or two as well as a garden that is getting to the point that I am giving food away to those around me but will have to learn how to can pretty soon! I still have much to do, but money is tight so I try to concentrate on dual use items. The garden is great if SHTF, but it also helps me be able to afford to eat healthier now and is also helping me lose weight and get in shape. My planned rain water collection system would help in a lot of situations but it also will help drop my water bill by letting me irrigate my crops for free. Tools are wonderful when you can’t call a repairman, but they also help you save money today by letting you fix for yourself what you would have paid to have done. It goes on and on from there.

As for others in my life, I have been able to convince a few people to put away food and try gardening. Most of the sensible people in my life (the ones without chemical dependency or psychiatric issues) can see the writing on the wall and know something is coming. Some are better prepped than me and some less but they are doing what they can.

What about those of us who want to prepare, but are too poor to do it. Luckily my family and I have stashed enough weapons and ammo, which will no doubt be great for survival, but as far as water purification and nonperishable food items, not to mention camping gear and everything else that would be useful, we are shit out of luck on. Which of course the weapons are the main necessity, but living off the land will be hard especially in the winter. Survival will definitely also depend on forming into groups of people you can trust. Even if it’s people you don’t really know well, as long as they are willing to pull their own weight, survival will depend on each other. We all have a common goal, and a common enemy, so we just need to learn how to stick together when the time comes. No doubt there will be those who are trying to take advantage of situations, and hurt people, take what others have that doesn’t belong to them, and do things they wouldn’t have been able to do when there was law and order. I just wish we could put things back together in this country, so we could get back to living decent lives. It sucks it’s going to all come crashing down, and there’s nothing we can do to stop it. But it’s obvious nothing is going to change, anyone who becomes a politician is corrupt, and has no desire to try and straighten this country out. Even if one did (Ron Paul), it would take an entire government of Ron Pauls to put order back into this broken mess.

More of prepping is about mentality than cash methinks. My Dad used to say “necessity is the mother of invention & he’s right”.

I worry sometimes that some may associate prepping with yet more conspicous consumption – the very behavior that got us into this mess! A lot of people don’t even know how to use the expensive gear they purchased!!!!

Take a google at a gent called country codger – amazing tips on doing more minus lots of cash up to and including building your home. All written from a prepping perspective.

For water purification – couple of buckets and sand & charcoal or the little filters on the cheapasdirt site? Not a posh Berkley jobby but could save your life just the same! (After the floods in pakistan they realised muslin cloth folded 5 times to filter reduced the cholera incidence 75%!) Have a means to boil your drinking ater come what may.

Build your rocket stove & apple box oven.

I grew most of our seed store over a 3 year period cos I couldn’t afford to buy lots of seeds in quantity. I sew, I mend, I do very basic metal work and carpentry. At present my son’s old jeans are being turned into a denim patchork throw – extra winter warmth at zero cost to me.

I do need to make a purchase – then I’m queen of the flea market! Got a food dehydrator, cold gear, lots of tools like that as I could never afford to get em at retail prices. Friends have got really useful items from freecycle. Skillful expoitation of misspelled ebay items often turns up a bargain (- please don’t share that tip too wide)

My home is small – lower bills and mortgage as I build towards my eventual goal of a mortgage free rural retreat. Less risk of ending up homeless during a bout of unemployment too. Property prices in my part of the UK got too insane for me to even entertain trying to keep up with the Jones quite some time ago.

Skill up, practice flexing that grey matter and always remember mental strength & creativity are the greatest tools of all for shtf!

I have yet to meet anyone in the U.S. who was too poor to save a portion of their earnings. Instead of putting 10% in a raining day fund, spend it on provisions. The first year I was married, I made $7,000 and still managed to save some.

Some tips:
Canning jars and pressure cookers can be had free or cheap on Freecycle and Craigslist. Dumpster dive if you have too for free produce. Start hunting small game like squirrel and rabbit and can the meat. If you are truly poor, take advantage of food pantries and food stamps which will even pay for seeds.

If you cannot figure out how to get ahead now, how can you expect to survive later?

Start simple then. If you are using a local food pantry, see if they have an excess of rice and beans. Many times, poor people make poor dietary choices and will shy away from whole foods in lieu of processed, prepackaged stuff. Someone I know is associated with a food pantry and gets surplus beans from there that people won’t take. Even if you have to buy them, a 20 pack of ramen at Wal Mart was $2.12 the last time I checked and my local grocery store has rice on sale for $8 for 20 lbs. I’m poor too (I work in food service) but I have learned over the years how to live on little and usually have a surplus.

I would also learn to use your daily life as an opportunity to do dual use things. If you need to go somewhere close, ride a bicycle or walk rather than driving. This gives you vital cardiovascular exercise and will help you maintain a healthy weight. If you have to buy a car, look for the most fuel efficient model you can afford. Learn to be a good scavenger and to be inventive with what you scavenge. If it’s garbage night, and you live in a safe enough neighborhood, take a walk and see what you can find in the trash. Don’t only look at the original purpose either. Think about how you can repurpose things to fit your own needs. I look for everything from old mowers to things I can use to stake plants in my garden (metals are almost impossible to find now as the scrappers are relentless in my area due to all of the poverty). I also hunt through thrift stores, yard sales and flea markets as well as pawn shops to try and find things cheaply. Word of mouth also helps as people you know may come across something you need and will be willing to give it to you just for letting them know.

When that Person mentioned water purification I thought about the $15 one I saw on Amazon that didn’t look half bad and would be good for a G.H.B. or a B.O.B. or simply good to put in a car glove compartment box.

When anon wrote, “and do things they wouldn’t have been able to do when there was law and order.” I wonder when that was when there was law and order? From what I’ve seen so far, that time never was.

Also, if Ron Paul won and ended The Fed and stopped the wars – something One Man can do – that would be a huge step to getting to a better place. HUGE.

I left a comment says Get out of the city!! thats getting negitive veiws!!Tell me how you can survive in a city after a SHTF event!! HA those in the city will only want out an those out will never go in!!

When Sam Walton was laid off in the depression with about 30 other people; he decided at least one of those people would be better off because of it and he was going to be that man. $20 Billion dollars later WalMart proved him right. Absolutely not possible some people won’t do just fine in cities, otherwise they’d be empty land. Lots of smart people will make it.

The best we can hope for is a shot term event to wake people up, and then, it goes (sort of) back to normal for a time. Then, maybe the sheople will listen to us “fools” and do a little prepping.

If you stand back and look at the whole situation with the sheople, the lack of supplies is only a symptom of the real problem. Yes, they are physically and logistically dependent on government, but, the real problem stems from the people being intellectually dependent on government. Their normalcy bias has become a disease that keeps them from deviating from any path that the government sets for them.

This is the real problem: the total and complete devotion to a system that uses and abuses them and tells them it “cares”, when in reality, it actually has contempt for them.

When you finally wake up our of your stupor and realize that this government is simply using you, you will be angry. I was *ENRAGED* by these facts. The sheople, in fact, make the whole thing possible. I feel saddened by the day when I realised that when you go into Wal-Mart what you see, mostly, are people as the Zionist Henrty Kissinger described as “useless eaters”.

What we are doing in the writings above is talking about trying to convert useless eaters into We The People so they can operate and think as The Creator intended. Our mission here is not unlike the 6% during the American Revolution.

The people we are talking about here are captive. Currently, it is without chains but, eventually, it may be with chains. There is a process here that we must realize is not easy. Many parallels were alluded to in the movie The Matrix. It is not easy to break people out of the system because the system has produced both a mesmerising, hypnotic propaganda system and a pleasure/reward system that strengthens its hold on people to the point where there are totally and completely dependent on it for entertainment and sustenance.

Like a person both deeply mentally and deeply physically addicted to a drug, the detox and addiction counseling must be done carefully. Some of us have been disgusted in the past, say “Let them starve!”. But, in reality, to some extent, your survival is dependent on their survival. But, remember, also, to some extent after TSHTF, too much compassion will cause their addiction to the system will take you down with it if you let it.

The important thing her is to try to help people through this, but, at the same time, know when to turn, dust your feet off and walk on.

Excellent article!!!!! I have been printing copies of the articles and news from this site and several dozen others AND including the “Official Government Literature” on being prepared, disaster readieness, etc for all my NP friends and family. This one definately goes into the next “manila envelope with no return address” that they have been getting weekly. Lots of questions back from them “have you gotten one of these?” yep, don’t know who from but they have some interesting points….
Got some of them into paintball “hunting practice” and many times the subject of those “manila envelopes” comes up…. It’s a long slow process, but they have been waking up.

You are welcome, I have to try to make a joke about things now and then to keep from crying. And I do use Manila envelopes (got 200 of them at a garage sale for 5 bucks) this article goes into the next delivery. I now have 14 people prepping in a year and many others are waking up. I have been teaching reloading, mechanical skills, electrical salvage and solar panel construction into power supplies for “camping”, canning, helping teach deer hunting, archery, taking kids fishing, OMG I’m a DEN MOTHER… “looks for balls” whew still there. Have a good day

I do what I can to help keep those that I know and trust alive and well. I have a new group of people to add as of last night (He’s awake, wife’s asleep, kids are awake)from work. I told him a bit about what is going on and lent him my book (3rd copy) “Once Second After” and let him read it. Once he asked questions about it and problems that could evolve I decided that he could use some help getting started.
Although playing the podcasts from Alex Jones, Coast to Coast, and Glen Beck through the stereo system in the warehouse while working (I hotwired the intercom) to get the mind working. I’m the supervisor and I have a captive audience.(evil laugh) I just use the ones that deal with SHTF issues and world politics that can affect us.
Man, I can be a dick. Would that come under the torture clause in the Geneva Convention?

While we may have a certain amount of trouble from unprepared people, I believe the biggest threat will come from our own corp gov. While we go without supermarkets and gas stations,the corp gov alphabet agencies and military will ALWAYS be the last man standing. It is called continuity of government. Even if the military forces (be it US,UN,or NATO) stop receiving paychecks, they will always be fed before the masses.They will always have the fuel,ammo,etc. they need.What their exact plans are, only a few know for sure.But it will always be about their survival over ours.For those saying the military would never work against its own citizens, think again.They would be told the rioters are terrorists. A full belly will always trump an empty one.

Just like the LA police only managed to protect their own HQ, the Gov won’t help or bother people out in the hustings much. Gov only controls because the people let it. SHTF they will hole up and ignore us. What they fear is when they come out after it’s over, we may ignore them, after the tar and feathers

LOOK USE YOUR HEAD IN PREP’N, GO BASIC WHAT YOU LIKE NOT WHAT SOMEONE ELSE DOES. STOCK LONG TERM STUFF. BLEACH FOR WATER,BARTTER GOODS,22LR.12GA, AND SALT LOTS OF ALL.YOU WILL BE GLAD YOU DID. AS FOR HUNTING AND FISHING THATS A JOKE FOR THE MANY, HUNT THAT DEER WELL YOU AND 50,000 OTHER’S ARE AFTER IT, THEY WILL BE GONE AS WILL THE FISH AND OTHER GAME FAST. GROW A GARDEN IN WHAT EVER YOU HAVE. JUST REMEBER THE 3′S- 3 MIN OF AIR- 3 DAYS WITHOUT WATER- 3 WEEKS WITHOUT FOOD GAME OVER. JUST PREP WHAT YOU CAN NOW UNTIL THAT DAY COMES AND IT IS. AGAIN USE COMMON SENSE!

Make sure to rotate bleach frequently as it loses effectiveness over time. Better yet, store calcium hypochlorite and treat 10,000 gallons for under $10.

While game will BECOME scarce as it did during The Great Depression, use the normalcy bias gap to immediately harvest as much game as possible. I live near a national forest and have about 200 canning jars waiting to be filled immediately after SHTF as part of my 2-year storage plan.

It’s going to be pretty bad for us preppers too. There will be mass murder-suicides as husbands kill their starving wives and children before killing themselves. Imagine if that’s your next door neighbors out in their backyard. There are hundreds of people who live within a mile of me. I can only imagine how many decaying bodies there will be in the first couple of months after the collapse.

LOL – those nails working on you again?!? Your post reads like you are going to put on some music “burn the oldies”. Ahhh, if only music was truly a cure-all. Thanks for the smile, even if it was unintentional!

the NP will be F * C K E D….i’ve tried to tell my family & freinds, but they won’t listen….”nothing will happen” and “you’re crazy” is what they say to me or my favorite “i’ll just bring the family to your house if anything happens”………i say “it’s already happening; you’re stupid for sitting on your ass and not doing anything; and my son & i will drop your asses at 300 yards if you come to my house……a lot of people don’t talk to me anymore….anyway, off to buy more toliet paper

Such a good eye-opening article and it might serve to make NPs think ‘what if’.

Even though our extended family is not actively engaged in building a prepared lifestyle, they have some food supplies, candles, some stored water, and about a week’s worth of food at their places. Not enough for long term, but beyond the 72-hour mark. Some family lives only miles from us, but my aging parents live in the ‘burbs between Baltimore and Washington — NOT the place to be! They will head here in an emergency, no doubt, so we are prepared for them. Yes, this will impact our household and our own inventory and that’s why we have prepared to prepare for them.

Also, some gifts have been extended to our family members under the guise of ‘emergency car bags’. Very few people will have emergency items in their cars (fewer people have car preps than household prepss) but most people actually appreciate having them. With us, our gifts were homemade drawstring cotton bags with ration bars, light sticks, mag strikers, waterproof matches, whistles, emergency blankets, ponchos, and other essential items to keep in vehicles. Last Christmas, everyone got solar lanterns. For a bunch of non-preparing family members, everyone was more than intrigued by these things, they were excited to have them! So when it seems that family members won’t budge, or won’t listen to warnings, it might be time to re-think the ‘hard sell’. I decided to stop trying to convince them (while exhausting myself). I began to force their hands with a few small gifts or a small food-box. Doing it this way removes the burden of some NP having to begin preparing for an unknown event or a change in lifestyle. For most people, the idea of
“prepping” may be overwhelming and they simply can’t wrap their heads around something theoretical. Take action yourself and actively engage them: give them something that you are able to explain “might come in handy” — the family members might even surprise you by appreciating what you just gave them.

And if they talk about you when they get home, you won’t hear it anyway. But they’ll have something to put away and just might remember to use it when the SHTF.

As political fundraisers go, it’s set to be an “Avengers”-sized blockbuster: One hundred and fifty wealthy Democrats will dine with President Obama at George Clooney’s Studio City home Thursday night, at a party that organizers expect to gross $15 million for the president’s re-election campaign — the highest amount ever raised at such an event.

To me, this is disgraceful and outrageous. The man leading our Country into the toilet, is evil, vile, and without a conscience. While we prepare, and millions are without work, homeless, hopeless, he has fund raisers in order to help his re-dictatorship. The hollywood elite who support him, are whores who live in a world that is not based on reality. They will pay dearly one day when the reckoning is here. How any of them can sleep at night is beyond me.
The homeless can not prepare, the hopeless can not find the ambition to prepare, the dirt poor can not afford to prepare, and the children are too young to prepare.

I have no idea how the next 5 months will play out, but I believe something life changing is going to occur. God help all that deserve his respect.

hollywood stars serve the nwo illuminatti globalists and their minions like cia fbi mk-ultra trained prostitutes , you don’t get to be famous and rich unless you learn to kneel and open wide in jewish zionist controlled hollywood!!! many of the child stars are turned into child pedo prostitutes for the luciferian cabala worshiping elite of ameriKa!!!

don’t envy the hollywood stars they literally sell their souls and prostitute their bodies to the lucifer el’ diablo cabala worshiping Illuminati!!!

they all do as they’re commanded or they get screwed black-listed like mel gibson did!!!

This news about charities is why years ago I stopped giving to ANY organization; except VA…
UNTIL I STARTED RECEIVING CRAP FROM CHINA ….I supported the VA because they were given the opportunity to make something of their day, even if it was only stationery, etc, which was quite pretty and functional…CHINA????? no way.

I feel that the third paragraph in this article most certainly will not happen. Germany is in no boat to bail out the entire EU and there will not be an abundance of jobs in America that pay well. This is completely delusional and is not in accordance with the TPTB. There may be a lull prior to the election that everything is going well but don’t expect it to last. The rest of this article is very accurate.

I really hope the collapse happens in the late fall. I live in Wisconsin. We typically have snow on the ground from Thanksgiving to the end of March. It would be better for people to starve than freeze. It also means there will be a lot less people wandering around. I have kerosene heaters and kerosene. I can heat my home without people seeing wood smoke for miles.

‘Reichstag’ event could involve false assassination attempt blamed on “white supremacists”
Incited racial riots would lead to calls for government “crackdown”
Civil unrest would lead to martial law, DHS travel checkpoints, indefinite delay of elections

Washington, DC – The Obama agents, through the DHS and other assorted colluders, are plotting a major ‘Reichstag’ event to generate racial riots and produce the justification for martial law, delaying the November 2012 elections, possibly indefinitely, a DHS whistleblower informed the Canada Free Press on Tuesday.

you are being ENSLAVED by your own brother sister neighbors family and friends who work for the globalist traitorous u.s. zionist fascist communist fed gov …

Rex 84 – Your Internment Camp Awaits You

Corrections Officer Internment/Resettlement Specialist
Job Details
City: Nation Wide
State: Nation Wide
Country: USSA – the united socialist states of ameriKa
Company Name: Army National Guard
Job Category: Legal/Law Enforcement/Security
Job Description:
As an Internment/Resettlement Specialist for the Army National Guard, you will ensure the smooth running of military confinement/correctional facility or detention/internment facility, similar to those duties conducted by civilian Corrections Officers. This will require you to know proper procedures and military law; and have the ability to think quickly in high-stress situations. Specific duties may include assisting with supervision and management operations; providing facility security; providing custody, control, supervision, and escort; and counseling individual prisoners in rehabilitative programs.

*** As a ex Military Police K-9 Law Officer – Sgt. , I would just like too say this to the Zionist Illuminati serving Gestapo Army National Guard DHS FEMA SEC FORC –

NinaO is not trying to pass this ad off as his own work. He is not attempting to HIRE people for his OWN internment camp. He is pasting an ad that he saw online to prove the veracity of his claim, that these internment camps are being manned and prepared.

If you get confused in the future, try verifying the words used in your insults with dictionary dot com.

I’ve been through enough. Only Hugo caught me off guard in Charlotte, NC.

I know it’s a lot of info. One life saved is worth it.

In an average year, 10 tropical storms form over the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico with six of these storms becoming hurricanes, and in an average three-year period, about five hurricanes hit the U.S. coast.
Below are some hurricane preparedness tips from the National Hurricane Center:

• BEFORE THE HURRICANE
• DURING THE HURRICANE
• AFTER THE HURRICANE
• HURRICANE RELIEF

KNOW THE RISKS IN YOUR AREA
• Are you in a flood plain?
• Is your home subject to storm surge flooding?
• How far above sea level are you?

THE RISKS
If you are near the seashore, plan to relocate during a storm. If you live in a mobile home, always plan to relocate. You can find out from local Emergency Management officials (NC and SC) if your home is located in a flood plane or if it is subject to storm (or tidal) flooding. They can also tell you the elevation of your home above sea level.

LEARN YOUR EVACUATION ROUTES
• Plan your personal escape route
• Check hours it would take to evacuate during peak traffic
Plan your escape route in advance including the time it will take you to evacuate to a safe place. Keep in mind you may be evacuating during peak traffic. Evacuation routes are well marked with blue hurricane evacuation route signs.

DONATIONS
Think before you donate.
As you open your pockets to do a good thing, please keep these facts in mind
GOODWILL CEO and owner Mark Curran profits $2.3million a year. Goodwill is a very catchy name for his business. You donate to his business and then he sells the items for PROFIT. He pays nothing for his products and pays his workers minimum wage! Nice Guy. $0.00 goes to help anyone! Stop giving to this man.

The United Way
President Brian Gallagher receives a $375,000 base salary along with numerous expense benefits.
The United Way has banned the Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts from receiving any money from them because they will not allow pedophiles to be scoutmasters. (Kudos to the Boy & Girl Scouts)

UNICEF CEO Caryl M. Stern receives $1,200,000 per year (100k per month) plus all expenses including a ROLLS ROYCE. Less than 5 cents of your donated dollar goes to the cause.
The American Red Cross

President and CEO Marsha J. Evans salary for the year was $651,957 plus expenses

MARCH OF DIMES
It is called the March of Dimes because only a dime for every 1 dollar is given to the needy.

Instead, give it to SALVATION ARMY.

The Salvation Army

Commissioner Todd Bassett receives a small salary of only $13,000 per year (plus housing) for managing this $2 billion dollar organization. 96 percent of donated dollars go to the cause.

The American Legion
National Commander receives a $0.00 zero salary. Your donations go to help Veterans and their families and youth!

The Veterans of Foreign Wars
National Commander receives a $0.00 zero salary. Your donations go to help Veterans and
their families and youth!

The Disabled American Veterans
National Commander receives a $0.00 zero salary. Your donations go to help Veterans and their families and youth!

The Military Order of Purple Hearts
National Commander receives a $0.00 zero salary. Your donations go to help Veterans and their families and youth!

The Vietnam Veterans Association
National Commander receives a $0.00 zero salary. Your donations go to help Veterans and their families and youth!

Good article, Mac. These are the kinds of things I need to hear so that I have an idea what I will be up against one day. I’m hoping like crazy there are enough people around me preparing, and just being quiet about things. We will have to make some hard decisions against others, turning them away because we can’t feed the whole world with our preps. It’s like the parable of the ten virgins, when the unprepared virgins asked for oil from the prepared. They said no, lest there not be enough for them, but instead go buy more. But, it was the wrong time to be buying oil they should have had to start with.

Come on over, my dogs need food… they eat raw meat and 2 great danes will have your carcass gone in about a day and a half. May have to keep an eye on them since eating shit for brains may make them have faucet butt for a day or so.

This stuff has been around for thousands of years. Yes, it’s easy to get and deadly, but it doesn’t turn people into coherent zombies with no free will, eager to empty their bank accounts for the person who poisoned them. Scopolamine and other drugs in that class are highly toxic and halluncinogenic in small doses. Other than that, the story is just silly “news”, little else. Injecting someone with the alcohol extract of a few cigarettes will kill or incapacitate them in seconds. Is that “news”?

I have the funniest (true story) about my brother inviting me on a blind date with two very cute PETA girls. I think my brother still holds a little grudge about it. This took place in the late ’90.

Ok, here we go!

So one evening my older brother calls me out of the blue. I could tell that he was all excited about something. So he informs me that he just met this very, very, attractive blond and that she was just super cool. As luck would have it She was in town with her very attractive best friend, which was a brunette. My brother wanted to see if I would come out to meet them at one of the nicer local restaurants and go on a blind date with…(we will call her Stacy).

So I show up and I’ll be damned my brother was right! there set two very good looking women all smiling at me as I introduced myself and set down. All was going very well… The conversation broke in to animals and how wonder all furry critters were and all THAT! My brother totally over come with lust, was going on & on how he just loved little animals and that our mom was a vet and that we raised orphan animal all the time. Which was mostly true so far, till my brother started going on about how he was a vegetarian. This was very odd to me! LOL!!!!

It was about the time that I gracefully reached up and grabbed the halo that was hovering over my head stuck it in my back pocket and put on the devil horns. It was now my turn to break into the conversation about how much I love animals, which I really do. So I’m looking right in to Stacy’s eyes and she is staring in to mine. At the same time my brother was flirting with his new love VegAnn. Which she clamed was her real name. They were playing footsie under the table and touching hands. VegAnn and my brother were in a deep conversation about how wrong and evil in was to hunt pour helpless animals. My brother was really laying it on thick which was funny cause, I knew that we was one the biggest hunters that I knew but, now he was hunting something else. So VegAnn starts telling us that rabbits are her most favorite animal of all. VegAnn – “They are just so cute and they eat clover …they are the real lovers of the animal world.” And then I chime in “yes and they are my most favorite animal too, I have raise many rabbits and I think that they are just delicious!”

O ~ god the horror that came into their eyes! Boy was my brother pissed as they got up and walked out on us. You could hear chairs moving and eyes looking to see all the action! My brother got up and punched me in the jaw and knocked me on my ass! I soon recovered and got up and walked outside to find my brother trying to stop the girls from leaving but, is was to late. They were in their car and were pulling out of the parking lot. That is when we saw the (PETA) bumper sticker on their car as they were pulling out.

Good article from Be Informed. Nothing new for us Ole Preppers but, there is someone, somewhere waking up to reality everyday and they need this kind of info. The masses that are stuck in their worldly lusts won’t get it until it is too late or they loose their cushy lifestyle. Most are too busy keeping up with the Jones next door, and can’t or won’t see the writing on the wall. I live ready to die today and prepared to tuff it out until that day comes. The worldly shit is just that, a world full of shit and pain. It’s how we find little bits of pleasure and laughter amongst all the crap; that is whats really important after making sure we keep our hearts and heads in the right place.

I will get ready to prep by late 2020′s, not sooner.
The stock market suggests a big trigger event this year or early next year that will be followed by many years of calm.
I am not worried at all, not even a little bit.
It is too soon folks.

Target USS Carl Vinson, 2 tours Persian Gulf Hell. Buddy was on the Omaha though, went through NNPS pipeline together. Best part was that he was attached to the BG and we could get blasted together each time we hit port.

Can we all be so very wrong? We are intelligent people, do you think that we would be doing this just for the sake of spending extra cash? Going without holidays and the like if we did not feel we had to to ensure the welfare of our families.

I’m still prepping hard, even though I’ve completely bought into the Drake interview. I believe there will be significant disruptions and limited violence in the U.S. during A CIVILIAN LED COUP BACKED BY THE MILITARY, POLICE, AND FEDERAL MARSHALLS.

Sorry to disappoint folks, but WWIII is not happening. No microchipped cashless slave society led by the NWO. Just a good old-fashioned bloodless coup (well, relatively bloodless) with all the scum and traitors thrown in jail. There will be serious, but temporary disruptions as the U.S. recovers and rejoins the world community, not as a tyrant, but as a peaceful republic. Nothing us preppers can’t handle. Non-preppers will be eating rice and drinking stale water for months, while we eat canned salmon and drink good coffee. That’s all folks!

My crystal ball is the Drake interview, common sense, and a cursory view of history. Governments come and go. Ours was taken over step by step, by satanic thugs in 1913, 1933, 1963. It’s about to be taken back.

A lot of brainwashed fools believe we are facing an all powerful evil empire that is about to launch WWIII, kill 85% of the population, herd the rest into camps, and microchip the survivors to continue their financial reign of terror. It ain’t happening. It’s a sick fantasy in the minds of those who are utterly failing to achieve that dream, and those who choose to believe that it’s unavoidable.

In reality, we are facing a few hundred political/banker criminal thugs that can and will be overthrown and tossed in the slammer. The Federal Reserve Note is D-E-A-D! The world at large knows this and has already started using alternative currencies and commodities to conduct trade. When the FRN dies, the NWO dies. When the NWO dies, our illegitimate, unconstitutional government dies and we hit the financial reset button. Precious metal-backed treasury notes and constitutional law and government are going to make a thundering comeback after the storm passes.

I really, really would like to believe the information coming out of the Drake interview. I guess I would just feel a lot better if it were coming from more than one source.

Because I tell you, I’m seeing a lot more evidence that TPTB have no intention of going quietly and simply allow themselves to be arrested. It would seem that they still have a lot of resources at their control, and should they decide to take the rest of us with them when they go out (i.e. scorched earth policy), we are going to be in for a world of hurt. For instance, what if they have their fingers on the nuclear trigger and decide to pull it? Or what if they use the nasty biological agents that they surely do have at their disposal and unleash a pandemic? If these people have the wherewithal to take down governments and terminate high ranking governmental officials who have proven themselves “troublesome” to them or who have refused to be team players…..just how hard do you think it will be for them to unleash hell should they realize that their longstanding game is over?

Common sense dictates that the contents of my pantry will keep me going if I cannot work, if bad weather stops me going to the supermarket, if a terrorist attack locks down my city, if an EMP strikes..any number of things…including war.

Even now I have friends who are not prepping for losing their jobs – the most likely and immediately devastating SHTF scenario. We have friends that have been out of work since 2009, and it still doesn’t sink in.

If you had one can of soup and the other person had nothing, why would you try and kill the other guy in order to keep it? Are you so morally and ethically bankrupt? How hard is it to share a can of soup with another human being? Really? What is wrong with some of you?
Many of you haven’t identified one of the most important factors to your survival. It would seem most are focused on wiping each other out and making sure that you and yours live, over the lives of others.
I guess we truely are screwed as a species and deserve what we get in the end.

I’m sorry, my family are not killers nor do we break any other law ever but we make sacrifices to prepare for the future. We have small children to feed and sustain. We pass on Coach purses, fancy cars and other consumerist crap so if the worst happens our family has a better chance to survive. Why should I feel guilty that i have saved provisions for my small children in an emergency? Should I feed a stranger who chose to spend their money on crap, didn’t prepare a lick and has nothing to trade me for my food? I think you are morally bankrupt for suggesting that preppers should let their own die in order to feed people who really didn’t give a crap when they actually had the time and money to prepare themselves. Preppers will be the ones more than willing to reestablish trade and teach survival skills to others who are willing to work and have something to bring to the table. Unfortunately, there are a lot of people who will be either unable or unwilling to do either in an emergency scenario. I would not hesitate to defend my food and water from any who would take it from the mouths of my children.

If I only had one can of soup left and a complete stranger wanted it in order for there survival, would it not make sense to invite the stranger to share the soup? Sometimes making a friend and ally out of a complete stranger is more powerful to you than defending a tin of MSG.

I guess if someone try’s to take what you have, then they are a threat. Most threats arent going to people who are too busy presently spending their money on crap though. The real threats to you and your family are the threats that you’ll quickly roll over for. And many will run. But, what happens if you loose everything you’ve prepped? Maybe you’re forced to bug out and leave everything behind. You and your kids escape with just the clothes you are wearing and have to hoof it to safety. You may need the help of strangers!!!

What if a hoard of 1500 Bikers who didn’t take the time to Prep decides to forage every farm and house in your county and 200 of them ride up your drive to ‘pick up’ everything you have and carry it off to their ‘pad’ as part of “their” SHTF prepper plan?
What ya gonna do? Are you going to go down fighting, defending all them soup cans? What happens to your kids after you’ve pissed the Bikers off and they’ve ‘taken you out? Hmmm, sad.
And that’s just a fictional Biker Club gone bad!!! There would be dozens of groups in your area alone, who would band together very quickly as a group, to ensure their own survival. Realistically, every stranger you meet is a potential threat …. But many could also be life saving Allies to you.

Worst case senario. Should the entire grid go down, the Dollar crash, and the Government shut down and anything else you can think of, happen tomorrow, most would be pretty much screwed.

The key to survival for preppers is strength in numbers. Not hiding out in the woods thinking you’re safe. Family, neighbors and even strangers are you best hope . If I was a bad guy ….. And I’m not. But if I were ……. And I hadn’t prepped. I’m 99% sure I have the nessarsary skills to relieve many and most of you of all your preps. And there are many like me. Now imagine that like minded people like me got together in a particular area as a group? With out strength in numbers you’d be doomed.

Well duh Watcher. I have no intention of huddling with my children in a corner guarding a can of soup with a gun. In a worst case scenario though, no stranger can or should be trusted unless they bring something to the table for trade. Communities will be important for protection but also for a degree of trust. I have no way of knowing if the stranger I give a can of soup to isn’t going to run off to his biker gang two miles down the road who will then determine I have food and come back with all their friends. You better believe we have contingency plans to deal with them and many many creative ways of defending ourselves. And with how many depraved sickos there are in the world, why in the hell would I let any stranger even remotely close to my children? I’m thinking you don’t have kids, Watcher. If you do, let the image of them being raped and murdered in front of you sink in for a minute. You go ahead and trust a stranger, a pregnant woman even walking into your camp. Good luck with that. I will take family that I know and trust, neighbors that I know and trust, any day before I will let a stranger into my camp. The idea behind prepping is that even if I have to bug out, I have a place to go and i have provisions to get there. I have a network already in place to help me that does not consist of strangers who may or may not have plans to bury me in little pieces in their backyard. Geez, prepping is not a means of 100% safety. It’s just about increasing your odds. Your odds Watcher are not looking good if you trust strangers as much as you seem to.

One of the reasons why people are turned off by “Preppers” is that too many are spending thousands of dollars preparing for events that are very unlikely to happen (although if they did happen, they would be devastaing). The show, “Doomday Preppers” is an excellant example of this.

Instead, focus on the things that are likely to happen. Like bad storms that take down the local power grid. Getting a generator to handle that would help if the entire power grid went down. Or putting away food in case of hurricanes, earthquakes, industial accidents, ect. would help prepare for societal breakdown.

The point is, that preparing for the things that are more likely to happen will also prepare one for the catastrophic events.

Read my lips, yes they are moving, nothing is going to happen. You will wake up tomorrow and do the same things you did today. The poles won’t shift, the stock market will rise, your money will be worth a little less but the reality is nothing is going to happen.

So, with that said, I have rented a huge warehouse in the middle of nowhere. Please contact me so we can make the arrangements for you to give me all your preps. You won’t need them as I said.

I am drawing one of the most unrealistic scenarios. Obama and the EU manage the financial crisis well, democracy has a revival, no major earthquakes and natural disasters take place and all talks of war disappear.

What would all those who are prepared loose?

Some money will be lost on food we don`t eat or have to threw away some day and we have to get rid of useless medicines.

But prepared persons are more aware of their consumption and save therefor much money. At least I do. Most stored food will be eaten and be replaced anyway. Those who have achieved skills in gardening or have learned basics of a trade have their quality of life improved. To know how our grandparents and great-grandparents lived is interesting. Its allways ok to have the house safe some guns around and enough ammo. Tools? Men can never have too much tools.

Except for laziness there is actually no excuse for not being prepared. A person can prepare too little or the wrong way, but we try as good as we can and as good as we know.

If nothing happens, I will be more then fine with the outcome living my life, earn some money, raise children and try to be a good person. But if something should happen I have done the best for me and my family.

CBS 60 Minutes program for May 13th advertized that they would have a high ranking CIA employee tell about how he was going public about the US using Al-Qaeda in Syria against Assad. I watched the entire program and was not so surprised to see that section of the interview was editted out. Can’t let the sheep see the US government is using terror.

There is a very good video on you tube How to Brainwash a Nation, a defected KGB agent says the only way people will wake-up is when the military gives them a swift kick in their fat bottoms. And the military is set to do that but it will not be a fun thing, they will rape your children and your wifes and maybe the man of the house, most of them don’t care, they do this in other countries what would keep them from doing that here!!! And even the mean one himself Henery Kiisinger even said build a farm in the country and don’t forget weapons because of the hordes of starving, he is warning you but most won’t listen, and what will happen and will be the worst of all is the eating of human beings, it has happened many times in the past because of famine.

I hear a lot about people storing up for the future disasters, but I think people are forgetting about the poor. Many people don’t have the means to get enough food or supplies even for today, let alone months or years. They don’t live in places where they can hole up or be safe. Or money to buy weapons, etc.

Bottom line many people need food and supplies today. I think it is truly tragic that so many are storing up for themselves when there are so many who need help now.

Also, I don’t remember Jesus teaching to store up for ourselves. In fact He said the opposite. Don’t store up for ourselves here where thieves steal, but to store up for heaven. He also said to give to the poor, to help the needy.

So in other words don’t save up any food or supplies because those could be given to the poor? I think most preppers are engaged in their communities and give as they can to the poor. I doubt there are many really rich preppers. Jesus also said God helps those who help themselves. He told Noah to prepare for a great flood. Noah was, in essence, the first prepper as a PP on here said. He was mocked, put down and ignored for it the same as preppers today. If you don’t store up for yourself and your own family, you will not be able to help your community later on down the line when order may be reestablished. It takes several months to grow food. A human will starve after 3 weeks without it. Wouldn’t you be grateful that preppers stored food for themselves and seeds to grow so when they have extra crops there will be ongoing food available for trade? No farmers, no food. I think your view is very short sighted. If you want to meet Jesus sooner rather than later, then stick to your plan of giving everything away.

IMHO Preppers are terrorists and need to be reported to the authorities. I reported a prepper neighbor to the DHS and they moved a week later. I have no use for preppers gun owners or other terrorists!

Seriously Marvin?!?! Terrorists are people who plan attacks to take innocent lives. Preppers are people who are preparing to SAVE LIFE! The vast majority of gun owners are peace loving people who only believe in owning a gun for defensive purposes i.e. someone trying to hurt their family or steal from them. How in the world you sleep at night is beyond me. Why are you on this site anyway? If you believe the world is hunky dory and people are all loving beings and you have no need for a gun, why don’t you bury your head in mainstream media with the rest of the sheeple and leave the good fight to those who still know what is good in the world?

Who is the terrorist? the person who uses their head to be ready for life’s difficulties and preserve their safety and family, or the jerk next door who believes the Government line of crap, doesn’t prepare and then when disaster strikes DEMANDS that their neighbor share what they worked for.

Where I live, of a population of 23 million people, the people who prepare about 100,000 , not many at all, and with less than a million guns officially in this country, well, there is going to be a lot who will just plain die, sadly most are idiots or fools, they would rather watch Australian Idol on tv or the ” Voice” or some new cooking show than put staples away for a rainy day.

Worse in the church I go to, I am tired of telling people to prepare for a shtf event, yes I totally agree, it is a mathematical certainty that a almost extinction level event occurs again, as a real practical believer, I see that the black death which swept Europe was a real time of sorting out who lived and died, too many Christians are among the crowd who call me and say ” oh brother since Jesus is coming again to rapture us we don’t need to prepare” or ” God will provide meals for us like he did with Elijah “.

I am not trying to preach here , but how about some reality please ? as far as I am concerned God said to Joseph to prepare the land of Egypt for 7 years of prosperity followed by 7 years of drought” so Joseph built huge grain silos and had cattle put in vast covered enclosures, I am saying this to point out that not all Christians are idiots or fools,sadly too many are , most are too gullible , most are weak in the brain and most believe in the nanny state.

Most will die in a real event and under pressure they will revert back to their natural state just to survive, will their be acts of extreme sacrifice ? or kindness ? undoubtedly ! , probably they will number in the millions, but is it really necessary? is it biblicaly correct even ? I do not believe so.

what happens in a real civilization changing event, no one can know for sure, but it IS possible to mitigate the event to having done the best one can to protect their own family, I have digressed a bit, my point is though , that humans generally don’t or won’t prepare anyway, regardless of race, religion or color.

I try to inform people without giving away my own preparedness , among my own family, I get mocked and ridiculed, my brother in law works for a huge insurance company and earns well into the 200,000 a year bracket, but what did he do when he got a company bonus ? bought a new 52′ tv ! his wife is aware of needing to put stuff away , but they put it off and think it will never happen.

yes don’t just have faith in your supplies have faith in Jesus. No matter if you prepare to the fullest or sleep in a gutter when shtf my most precious preparation is knowing i was saved by Jesus when he died on that cross for all of us. That said if God leads you to prepare then do it.

Here in Mississippi 1/3 of the population is on food stamps and medicaid. Its a way of life for many folks and if they can;t take their government card to wal mart for food they will steal what they want (encouraged by jessie J. and Al Sharpton) until there is nothing to take from the usual outlets. Then they will go door to to door in packs taking from the weak, and those they can over power with numbers. I think this is now called financial justice.

god said to noah build me a boat here are the specs. while noah built the boat his neighbors laughed. because he lived in a desert called him a fool. when he finished he set gathering the animals his neighbors still laughed. when he sealed the doors with pitch it began to rain. how long after raining before his neighbors stopped laughing how long before they ran to his boat and demanded to be let in. when ankle deep knee deep when chest deep. question ? did he let them in?

Wow great read,nothing new but its better defined and spot on…. what I am coming to realize is that being a Patroit, Prepper, God-fearing/loving, hard worker, straight, Tea Party supporter, Taxpayer, non-union, retired military senior…….makes me a target, for ALL Demo-crats, socialist, commies, ethnic haters, gay/lesbians, Obama followers, and Constitution corruptors, frauds, slackers, low-life entitlement morons everywhere…… Oh well to hell with them all

The one’s who are really prepared for any calamity, world wide (not just (U)SA)
are the one’s who know and experienced, that there is hardly any
way tot prepare yourself physically for such an event. Any hard core
survivalist can tell you that your “state of mind” is the key to survival/recovery,
This does not mean you should keep some “essential basics” handy,
but you really think we cleaned our ass with TOILET PAPER in the “cold desert”
of the Himalayas (Ladakh).

Looking at these comments, there is a lot of fear, which is definitely not
the right “state of mind” for any action, let alone during a major disaster.

Well you pretty much covered the imagined SHTF’s scenerio but where’s the part that we should love our neighbor as ourselves? What about relying on the most high God and not our ability to see how much we can store up -food, water and ammunition? Fear tactics don’t come from God.

I can see the logic in storing some for convenience’s sake, but there is a certain arrogance in relying upon one’s own self and discounting everything else.

The top priority of prepping should always be to HUMBLY focus on Jesus Christ who in his great mercy will give us the wisdom when and if needed. If it’s going to be as bad as you say and God is not willing to help me and my family when I’m ask for his help/guidance, then why would I want to fight to stay alive in this world? Why not just give in to the wisdom of God and remain in his presence whether in the flesh or spirit where there is no pain, sorrow or suffering? When we focus on death or getting hurt, we lose and the devil wins.

We have to look deep inside ourselves and examine what we TRULY believe and how strong our FAITH is; that’s what we’ll always be able to carry with us, no matter what happens. All this ‘stuff’ can be taken away, destroyed and stolen. We CAN live through Jesus Christ if we chose and then all this prepping won’t matter; helping our neighbor will be the top priority. Otherwise, What’s the Point?

Just to clarify, way above someone said we NEED veggies and americans eat way too much meat.

Well veggies are certainlyhealthyand a good source of vitamins, which we DO need, carbohydrates are not REQUIRED for survival, however protein and fat are, your body can run off either carbs or fat.

The way I actually try to look at it is this, God made our bodies very effecient and if you think back pre-refrigeration and modern day food storage, during part of the year Veggies in colder climates where for the most part unavailble as was fruit so during part of the year we mainly survived off fat/protien and when the warm weather came we got loaded up on lots of vitamins via fruits/veggies, wwhich struck a balance, The first 3 or 4 days without carbs your body will feel sluggish, but once your body realizes that you dont have carbs, it will start producing ketones which allow you to burn fat for energy, Its been said and I personally find that your brain actually runs better off of ketones/fat, and I for one have felt sharper when Im on a carbless diet.

An important item to have is a fairly well rounded multivitamin when SHTF long periods without certain vitamins cause dvarious ailments

I think a lot of NON prepping has to do with not wanting to waste money- the mentality that if nothing goes wrong, they’ve wasted their time and money and energy. I think a good way to encourage people isn’t just to talk about what could go wrong if they don’t prepare for something they can’t see coming, that seems unreal to them, but to talk about how much FUN it can be. Gardening and raising chickens and learning about herbs and learning to can and all of that is FUN. There is PRIDE involved in learning new skills, in picking a tomato off of your own plant, in an egg that you collected yourself that morning. etc
All I typically hear about is how expensive it is, how hard it is. I don’t see it that way at all. I love my new life. I love hanging my clothes to dry and listening to the peep frogs in the spring. I love sitting out and watching my chickens and petting my chicks. I love watching the plants in my garden change- seed to sprout, first flower, first fruit or vegetable.
As far as just stocking up, surely there is some way to put a more positive spin on the activity rather than just the negative reasons for doing it.

I’m going to be nice today and give you all a really big tip. There is a food source that is abundant and literally, crawling everywhere. give up? Insects.

You won’t go hungry as long as you can find some insects (never eat spiders) and can identify a few edible weeds on the ground.

Another piece of advice, a lot of the “aliens” you see waiting in front of home depot, well they are better survivors then all of you preppers. Don’t believe me? Go up to some from a rural background and ask them what they would do in certain situations. They have way more skills than the average American and I would rather have them in my group than a bunch of paranoid good for nothings. Have a good night!

EVENTUALLY EVERYTHING WILL BE CONSUMED AND THAN WHAT?
THERE WILL STILL BE NO TOILETS TO FLUSH AND HOW LONG WILL WE LAST ON PREPPING, PLEASE, JUST ACCEPT THE LORD JESUS CHRIST, THAT IS ABOUT THE BEST PREPPING YOU CAN DO, LOL!

Do both but you are right Jesus is the best strong fortress you can have. I don’t care how safe your prepping fortress is from the outside world, you can still slip on a carpet and smash your brains in we are all on the edge of eternity whether prepped or not.

Angelfire: You are correct, however,the Good Lord gave us common sense and blessed up with the ability to care for each other. Yes, the possibility that everything will be consumed, “then what” exists. I would say to you, I (me and mine) want to be some of the last ones destitute, instead of being the first ones. Accepting Christ and living right will ensure you an eternal home, but until you get there – be prepared.

In my own opinion, if the SHTF from a dollar collapse (most likely) it will be a somewhat temporary situation. There will be immediate effort at a reset. There will be crops on the field and in storage, cattle in feedlots, crude in refineries, etc etc. All trade will stop, but there will be huge priority to get everything moving again, so it won’t be lost.

Martial law will have the government taking over utility services and power plants. People needed, with “know-how” will be drafted to go to work ASAP. They, and their families, will be removed from their homes and placed close to the work. Power will be priority to get refineries going, the electrical grid back online, water systems pumping and communications going up. It will happen in stages.

Most of the distribution conduits will be empty and in need of re-supply. Such as filling grocery shelves, fuel delivery to gas stations, also public services (fire, police, ambulance, etc). That will take some time. Weeks, maybe even 2-3 months for broad coverage. However, it could be years to bring everything back to current levels.

At the initial breakdown, chaos will reign. Most people have no stored water, except for beers and sodas in the fridge. Thirst will be the very first negative impact, even though purified water in gallon jugs (generic) are only 75 cents a gallon and last for years in a dark cool place. Most people also only have a few days food because of current high costs. Very few folks have extra gas, except maybe a can for their lawnmower. Apartment dwellers are very vulnerable, but certainly could have room for a few cases of water and canned goods.

Those truly awake are watching the Euro and Eurozone, but the first “in your face” blast will be a “bankers holiday”. Banks locked up and ATM machines dark. The moment that happens, wise preppers who need to “bug out” will do so, right then, NOT waiting to see what the next day brings. The next day will be worse. Even apartment dwellers can have some cash stashed because plastic will be worthless. Cash will be king at the outset, since so few will have it. Gas will be accessible for those who have cash (or even precious metals) until the power grid goes down (within days, or less, of the bankers holiday).

As shelves are emptied, or stores locked up, people will riot and loot, not because they are bad people, but because they are suffering. If you are urban and prepared, you won’t see this, because you will be gone. By day 3-4, roads will be clogged with out of gas vehicles and people will be helplessly walking, vulnerable to the elements and thieves.

A true prepper, who will require “bug out” already has a remote place picked out, with gas stashed somewhere to get there. They will have a route planned that keeps them off of the main roads. Really smart ones will have supplies stashed (buried in plastic boxes or drums) close to their destination, but not precisely there. They will pick an undesirable camp spot to plant their stash, in case there are folks already at their preferred spot.

Those that can survive for 90 days will be the population in the aftermath. If there is indeed stocked tent camps prepared by the govt., then those folks who find their way to those places, will also survive, albeit in great hardship. When will this happen? Who knows. Just watch the Euro condition and have online banking. Check every day when you wake up. If you can’t bring it up, or make a transaction, call the bank. If no one answers, or you get a recording, “Get Out Of Dodge” or if rural, start your “hunker down” plan.

It’s not as far off as you may think. I predict it will happen on a Sunday, US date and time. I won;t type out the reasons I think that here. Good luck. Be a Boy Scout, follow their creed of being a good human, and their motto, Be Prepared.

Yes, I also think it’ll be a currency crisis starting with the Euro. We’ll be hunkering down in our small NC town. Only bad thing…we are 70% black, and at least 80% of the town is on foodstamps or welfare or play the disability game. The Mexicans seem to find plenty of work in the fields (i tip my hat to them) and make $300.00 a week while I see lots of young black men sitting around drinking beer all day. I guess they are too good to work in the fields and get dirty. It never bothered me when I was young. It’ll get ugly right quick if foodstamps and welfare benefits stop.

Ok I just have to put this in here. WHEN SHTF being in a rural area is no gerantee. Those hordes from the cities will figure that the rural farmer must have food so here they come. The next thing to consider, if you live near the capital for your state the “State Government” may attempt to “requisition” supplies for immediate redistribution to the masses. There really is no best bet you just have to have the bigger and better security. Guns, guns, and just for fun more guns (along with the people to use them).

One of the best examples of sh*t hitting the fan in the least expected places was during the Yugoslav Wars of the 90′s.
American’s see movies like “Borat” and think of Eastern Europeans and people from the Balkans as peasants and farmers. But in the 90′s Yugoslavia (especially the urban centers like Sarajevo) were very Westernized, modern, and progressive. So when SHTF there it was literally unimaginable to the majority of the Yugoslavian people that things could ever get anywhere near that bad. Imagine if shtf and a civil war/ethnic cleansing war happened in NYC…it’s completely unimaginable…but that’s exactly what the citizens of Sarajevo thought.
There’s a great scene in the beginning of the HBO Bosnian War drama “Shot Through the Heart” where a family is coming home from a normal night out and as they’re driving down the road they come upon an armed government roadblock. The people are quite shocked and the father says something along the lines of “Stuff like this doesn’t happen here, we live in modern Europe…” (paraphrasing).

In 2002 I became friends with a former Yugoslav named Goran who emigrated to the US after the Bosnian War. He never volunteered info about the war but eventually I asked him about the whole situation and he said, (again, paraphrasing): “It was totally surreal. Literally within a week my life had changed. One day I’m sitting with friends at home in an affluent upper middle class suburb listening to Pearl Jam & playing video games while talking about our plans for the weekend- we were going to go to the movies and then grab some burgers and have a few beers at one of our favorite hangout bars. Then 2 days later we are told by a bunch of government soldiers that we have to be out of our house by the next morning because the government is taking over our house. We had a nice new Mercedes, expensive furnishings, designer clothes, and the normal stuff that people have (basically what you would see in your typical American household)…but we were told we cannot take any of OUR things. We were forced out of our home the next morning under armed guard and we could only take one or two suitcases each. It was insane. Within 72 hours I went from being a normal guy who was planning to go to the movies on Friday to being a f*cking refugee walking down the road with no place to go, no home, and no possessions but what I had in my suitcase. What followed was 2 years of starvation and basically living like an animal for the next 2 years. It was hell and we never once imagined that anything like that could ever happen to us.”

The wars in Yugoslavia during the 90′s are a great example to non-preppers that any government can turn on you and in an instant you can go from living a normal, comfy, westernized lifestyle one day and then suddenly within a few hours time you can become a homeless refugee if you aren’t prepared for the worst with multiple backup plans for if and when shtf.

Look at the Drug War in Mexico or Breaking Bad (fine, laugh, but there is relevant survival info in that show) or streetgangs in any country to see to what extents people will go. If you can’t battle people like that with any competency or equality of firepower, you won’t be up to the task. Even the trained will transform into other people.

The real question is can govt hold the country together, and will they preserve the cities, and requisition food land, or will they side with the rural areas, and let people in cities starve? Hard to say, because you need both sides to keep the country running, despite what the racist yahoo idiots think.

Usually, govts feed the military, which can steal the food they need. Generals become as horrific as is needed, and will recruit horribly efficient killers, so I dont think even the prepared guy is going to live long, even on a multi-acre compound with all supplies.

Still, not preparing yourself enough to eat, drink, and fend off other amateurs is being stupid. If the central govt collapses, you better own land, but it will be taken from you anyway. Feudal city-states of the middle ages are not anyplace anyone wants to be living, and everyone will starve before hunting or fishing become viable again. Gonna bury your meat? No refrigeration.
Maybe you get through winter.

Interesting to think what geographical areas have the best chance in the global warming apocalypse that is coming and all the yahoos still deny. Watch the powerful show up and exterminate everyone in them and take them by force.

Preppers are just another blinded group that has no idea to the real world events that are foretold in the bible. Whether u prep or not the end will come and you have no control over the outcome. Hooks in the jaws and god put it into there minds. Look it up in the bible.

i would unfortunately say that you are more likely a cointelpro psyop agent. people so blinded by fear and preocupied with preparedness that the devil gets away with stiring up exactly this kind of situation

there is also the fact that the more a person is in fear the more easily they are manipulated and the more they BUY.

i would suggest people empower themselves with the Max Keiser Anti Illuminati Silver campaing. Take on the system and win.

It will be harder for Christians or other sympathizing people to turn friends away. Maybe that is one reason the Bible gives us the story of the 10 virgins. 5 were wise and 5 were foolish. The wise ones planned ahead and did NOT give their oil away to the foolish. That gives me peace of mind that God is not expecting me to share with those who are unprepared. Will still be hard but I can rest in the fact that it is biblical.

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